JUDEA 


FROM 


CYRUS  TO  TITUS 

53  T  B.C.  TO  TOAD. 


c 


The 
Sig  Lipman  Memorial  Library 


donated  by  Tea  Factor 


UNIVERSITY    RELIGIOUS 
CONFERENCE      HOUSE 

WEST  WOOD 


DATE  DUE 


DATE  RETURNED 


JUDEA 
FROM  CYRUS  TO  TITUS 

£37  B.C.— 70  A.D. 


BY 


ELIZABETH   WORMELEY   LATIMER 

AUTHOR  OF  "FRANCE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY,"   "RUSSIA  AND 
TURKEY  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY,"   "ENGLAND  IN  THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY,"  "  EUROPE  IN  AFRICA  IN  THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY,''  "ITALY  IN  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY,"  "SPAIN  IN  THE  NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY,"  "MY  SCRAP-BOOK 
OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION," 

ETC. 


CHICAGO 

A.  C.  McCLURG   AND   COMPANY 
1899 


COPYRIGHT 
BY  A.  C.  MCCLURG  AND  Co. 

A.D.    l8OO 


SRLt 


PREFACE. 


WHEN,  two  years  ago,  I  wrote  the  Preface  to 
"  Spain  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  I  believed  that 
book  would  be  the  last  of  its  series.  I  have  since 
thought  that  I  should  feel  more  satisfaction  in  my 
work  if  it  were  completed  by  a  volume  to  be  called 
"  Up  to  Date,"  which  would  gather  up  the  fragments 
that  remained  to  be  told  to  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  which,  I  am  assured,  will  not  be  until 
midnight  of  December  31,  1900. 

In  the  meantime,  I  have  gone  far  out  of  the  track 
of  my  work  on  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and  offer  to 
my  readers  six  hundred  years  of  Jewish  history,  from 
Cyrus  to  Titus  (537  B.C.  to  70  A.D.). 

I  was  led  to  undertake  the  present  volume  by 
having  been  selected  several  years  ago  by  Messrs. 
Roberts  Bros.,  of  Boston  (who  then  held  the  copy- 
right for  an  English  and  American  translation  of 
Kenan's  "  Histoire  du  Peuple  d'Israel),  to  translate 
the  fourth  and  fifth  volumes. 

I  was  not  eager  for  the  work,  as  I  did  not  believe 
I  should  be  in  sympathy  with  the  Biblical  views  of 
the  great  historian.  But  before  I  completed  my 
translation  (for  which  I  claim  strict  fidelity  to  the 
original),  I  had  become  deeply  interested  in  the 


4  PREFACE. 

period  of  history  of  which  it  treats,  and  also  was 
much  surprised  to  find  how  very  little  I  had  pre- 
viously known  about  it.  To  me  those  six  centuries 
were  practically  a  blank  space  in  Jewish  history. 
Matthew  seemed  to  follow  Malachi,  and  Nehemiah, 
after  a  brief  interval,  to  be  succeeded  by  Herod.  It 
therefore  appeared  to  me  probable  that  that  part  of 
the  public,  which  I  love  to  designate  as  "  my  own 
readers,"  if  no  better  informed  than  myself,  might 
derive  pleasure,  as  I  had  done,  by  being  more  fully 
acquainted  with  a  period  that  had  interested  me 
greatly. 

When  I  had  consented  to  undertake  the  translation 
of  the  last  two  volumes  of  Renan's  "  Peuple  d'Israel," 
I  grew  alarmed  on  finding  in  the  notes  how  much 
Greek  and  Hebrew  I  should  be  expected  to  copy. 

When  I  went  to  boarding  school  in  a  great  cathe- 
dral town  in  England  (a  good  deal  more  than  half  a 
century  ago)  no  young  lady  was  taught  the  dead 
languages.  I  remember,  too,  what  surprise  was  ex- 
pressed among  us  when  a  member  of  Parliament 
sent  word  that  he  wished  his  daughter  to  have  les- 
sons in  German.  We  learned  French  and  Italian, 
the  piano  and  the  harp,  drawing  (taught  by  a  future 
R.A.),  and  dancing  in  perfection,  with  court  courtesies 
that  we  might  be  prepared  for  future  "  presentation." 
We  also  learned  a  small  quantity  of  grammar,  his- 
tory, and  geography.  Of  the  .latter  we  studied  only 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  for  I  never  knew  a  girl 
who  stayed  long  enough  at  school  to  reach  the  later 
chapters  of  the  geography-book  which  contained 
America. 


PREFACE.  5 

But  to  return  to  my  translation.  Although  totally 
ignorant  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  succeed  in  copying  all  the  notes  in  the 
fourth  and  fifth  volumes  of  the  "  Histoire  du  Peuple 
d'Israel,"  and  when  my  manuscript  was  submitted 
to  one  of  the  gentlemen  connected  with  Harvard 
University,  I  was  delighted  to  find  I  had  made  only 
two  or  three  blunders. 

Again,  to  return  to  my  subject  (for  this  Preface 
seems  as  discursive  as  an  essay  by  De  Quincy),  I 
would  like  to  say,  in  case  I  am  accused  of  having 
drawn  too  largely  on  the  volumes  I  translated 
(especially  in  the  two  chapters  relating  to  Herod), 
that  having  as  a  translator  already  written  on  the 
subject,  it  was  hard  to  retranslate  what  I  wished  my 
book  should  say  into  other  words.  Therefore  it 
may  be  thought  that  some  parts  of  my  work  retain 
too  strong  a  flavor  of  Renan,  though  I  have  been 
conscientious,  I  think,  in  my  quotation-marks  and 
references;  and  the  facts  are  all  such  as  may  be 
found  in  the  works  of  other  historians. 

I  would  also  ask  my  readers  to  remember  that 
I  had  the  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Roberts  Bros., 
and  Messrs.  Little,  Brown,  &  Co.  (who  now  own  the 
copyright),  to  make  what  reasonable  use  I  pleased 
of  my  own  translation. 

I  have  never  taken  pleasure  in  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
an  extensive  landscape,  nor  in  a  similar  view  of  a 
wide  range  of  history.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the 
interest  of  my  readers  would  be  best  awakened  if  I 
took  a  prominent  personage  in  each  period  and 
grouped  around  him  the  events  and  people  among 


6  PREFACE. 

whom  he  lived.  Also  I  thought  that  by  connecting 
this  dark  period  of  Jewish  history  with  the  better 
known  history  of  the  world  in  general  I  should  add 
an  attractive  feature  to  my  narrative —  for  this  book 
is  narrative ;  not  history  in  the  higher  sense  of  the 
word. 

I  would  also  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  have 
touched  upon  no  points  of  controversy  or  Biblical 
criticism ;  to  have  done  so  would  have  been  to 
wander  out  of  my  track  into  rough  places,  through 
which  I  should  have  neither  inclination  nor  ability  to 
find  my  way.  I  have  not  even  given  an  opinion  as 
to  whether  passages  in  the  Book  of  Daniel,  on  all 
hands  conceded  to  apply  to  the  career  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  were  prophetical  or  historical. 

Pray  take,  dear  reader,  the  facts  that  I  now  offer 
you  as  simple  narrative.  They  have  been  gathered 
from  many  sources,  and  carefully  collated.  And  if 
the  period  of  history  I  have  chosen  interests  you  as 
much  as  it  has  interested  me,  I  think  that  you  will 
find  the  information  in  my  book  not  unattractive. 


BONNYWOOD,  HOWARD  Co.,  MD., 
October,  1899. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 13 

II.  ZERUBBABEL,  THE  PRINCE  OF  JUDAH    ...  31 

III.  EZRA,  THE  REFORMER '   •  45 

IV.  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAH    ...  62 
V.  ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT 78 

VI.  THE  JEWS  IN  ALEXANDRIA       92 

VII.  PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN 100 

VIII.  ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES 115 

IX.  JUDAS  MACCABEUS 133 

X.  JONATHAN,  BROTHER  OF  JUDAS     .     .         .     .  152 

XI.  SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS 165 

XII.  THE  JEWISH  SIBYL 181 

XIII.  THE  LATER  ASMONEANS 188 

XIV.  THE  RISE  OF  HEROD 207 

XV.  HEROD  THE  KING 224 

XVI.  ARCHELAUS  REIGNS  IN  JUDEA 244 

XVII.  GALILEE  UNDER  HEROD  ANTIPAS     ....  252 

XVIII.  PONTIUS  PILATE 264 

XIX.  KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA 275 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX.    FELIX,  FESTUS,  FLORUS 294 

XXI.    JOSEPHUS 311 

XXII.     NEARING  THE  END 331 

XXIII.  SIEGE  OF  JERUSALEM 343 

XXIV.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  CONQUEROR      .     .    .  362 

INDEX 373 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


JERUSALEM Frontispiece 

ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT To  face  page  78 

CLEOPATRA 166 

POMPEY 202 

ANTONY 226 

CALIGULA 272 

CLAUDIUS 290 

NERO 312 

VESPASIAN 340 

TITUS 364 


MAP  OF  PALESTINE To  face  page  12 


LIST   OF   BOOKS   CONSULTED. 


KENAN'S  History  of  the  People  of  Israel.     Vols.  IV.,  V. 

KENAN'S  Antichrist.     Translated  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Allen. 

GRAETZ.     History  of  the  Jews.     Vols.  I.,  II. 

RAPHALL,  Rabbi  Morris.     Post-Biblical  History  of  the  Jews. 

MILMAN.     History  of  the  Jews. 

STANLEY.    Jewish  Church. 

FARRAR.     The  Herods. 

GEIKE.     Hours  with  the  Bible. 

CONDER.     Judas  Maccabasus. 

SAYCE.     Introduction  to  the  Books  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Esther. 

SAYCE.     Higher  Criticism  and  Verdict  of  the  Monuments. 

RAGOZIN.     Medea,  Babylon,  and  Persia. 

HUNTER.    After  the  Exile. 

KNIGHT.    The  Arch  of  Titus. 

ALLEN,  Rev.  J.  H.     Hebrew  Men  and  Women. 

STAFFER,  Edmund.     Palestine  in  the  Time  of  Christ. 

LEWIN.     Siege  of  Jerusalem. 

FAIRWEATHER.     First  Book  of  Maccabees. 

COTTON.     Five  Books  of  Maccabees. 

ROBERTSON.     Early  Religions  of  Israel. 

MEARS.    Exile  to  Overthrow. 

STREAN.     Age  of  the  Maccabees. 

RAWLINSON.    Ezra  and  Nehemiah. 

C LOUGH.     Reports,  Letters,  and  Acts  of  Pontius  Pilate. 

Moss.     From  Malachi  to  Matthew. 

JOSEPHUS.     Whiston's. 

ENCYCLOPAEDIA  BRITANNICA. 

APPLETON'S  Encyclopaedia  Americana. 

KITTO'S  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 

HASTINGS'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.    Vol.  I. 


MAP 

Of 

PALESTIN 

INTHETIMEOF 

HEROD  THE  GI 


PT6LEMAI5 
.CACRE) 
J  TARICHAEA   * 


SCYTHOPOLIS* 
SAM  AM  A 


v 


J$ 

PELLA^=^   / 

\\     / 

^\    •• 


^ 


MODIN  »-> 

JERICHO    . 

a£VH  HORON 


•A5CALON 
•ANTHEDON 

'GAZA./X 

i.      _•        « 


EMMAUS 
BE.THLE.HEM' 

BETH  SUfCA 
HEBRON   • 


'JERUSALEM 


TEKOA 


MASADA 


ARABIA 


J  U  D  E  A. 

• 

CHAPTER   I. 

CYRUS   THE   GREAT. 

"  T  AM  Cyrus,  the  king  of  legions;  the  great  king- 
•*•  the  powerful  king,  the  King  of  Babylon ;  the  King 
of  Sumer  and  Accad ;  1  the  King  of  the  Four  Zones ; 
the  son  of  Cambyses,  the  great  king,  the  King  of  Elam  ;  the 
grandson  of  Cyrus,  the  great  king ;  the  great-grandson  of 
Teispes,  the  great  king,  the  King  of  Elam ;  of  the  ancient 
seed  royal,  whose  rule  has  been  beloved  by  Bel  and  Nebo, 
whose  sovereignty  they  have  cherished  according  to  the 
goodness  of  their  hearts." 

It  is  thus  that  in  the  latter  years  of  his  reign  Cyrus  2  de- 
scribes himself.  He  speaks  of  himself  also  in  his  inscrip- 
tions as  one  "  who  ruled  in  justice  and  righteousness,"  and 
who  "  was  righteous  in  heart  and  hand." 

This  was  no  vain  boast.  His  character  is  exhibited  in 
his  acts,  which  bear  witness  to  his  tolerance  in  religion,  his 
sagacity,  and  his  humanity.  Greek  historians,  though  they 
overload  his  history  with  legends,  bear  testimony  to  his 
wisdom,  clemency,  and  worth.  Herodotus  says  the  Persians 
called  him  "  the  father  of  his  people,"  a  title  they  assuredly 
never  gave  to  any  previous  king  who  had  ruled  in  Nineveh 
or  Babylon.  Ammianus  calls  him  "  the  amiable  prince" 
of  the  Oriental  world  ;  ^Eschylus  speaks  of  him  as  "  gen- 
erous ;  "  Xenophon  lauds  the  clemency  and  wisdom  of  his 

1  Sumer — Susiania.     Accad — the  northern  province  of  Babylonia. 
3  Cyrus  the  Great :  Kurush  in  Persian ;  Kurash  in  Assyrian ;  Ko- 
rash  in  Hebrew  ;  Kyros  in  Greek. 


14  JUDEA. 

government ;  Plutarch  declares  that  in  wisdom,  virtue,  and 
magnanimity,  he  surpassed  all  kings. 

About  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  before  Christ  this 
"amiable  prince"  and  mighty  conqueror,  claiming  to  be 
(as  indeed  he  was)  an  especial  instrument  in  the  hand  of 
Heaven,  made  his  appearance  in  Eastern  lands.  He  was, 
as  he  tells  us,  an  Elamite,  but  his  line,  which  ruled  over  the 
brave  and  hardy  bowmen  who  inhabited  that  mountain 
region,  was  not  the  same  that  had  raided  the  cities  of 
southern  Palestine  in  the  days  of  Lot,  and  had  been  pur- 
sued and  discomfited  by  Abram.  The  Elamites,  formi- 
dable by  their  skill  in  archery,  had  been  able  to  maintain 
their  independence  and  to  make  themselves  respected,  even 
by  the  most  warlike  Assyrian  kings,  until  the  time  of  Assur- 
bani-pal,  the  king  who  carried  away  the  Ten  Tribes  from 
Galilee  and  Samaria,  about  forty  years  before  Nebuchad- 
nezzar deported  200,000  captives  from  Judea  and  Jerusalem. 
But  three  generations  before  the  days  of  Cyrus,  Teispes,  son 
of  Achsemenes,  a  Persian  prince,  won  for  himself  the 
sovereignty  of  Elam,  and  bequeathed  his  crown  to  his 
posterity.  Cyrus  was  therefore  of  Persian  descent.  His 
religion  was  probably  that  of  the  Elamites.  "  Doubtless," 
says  a  modern  Scotch  writer,  *  "  Aryan  and  Semitic  blood 
mingled  in  his  veins.  He  combined  in  himself  the  qualities 
of  both  races,  and  was  fitted  as  no  conqueror  had  been  be- 
fore to  enlist  under  one  banner  the  forces  of  a  high 
civilization  and  comparative  barbarism  the  men  of  the 
plains  and  of  the  mountains,  the  worshippers  of  Bel  and 
Ormazd." 

The  twenty  years  that  elapsed  after  the  death  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar (561  B.C.)  were  years  of  revolt  and  anarchy 
throughout  the  Babylonian  Empire,  and  were  marked  in  the 
court  circle  by  deeds  of  treachery  and  murder.  By  such 
means  Nabonidos,  a  general,  gained  the  throne  in  553  B.C. 
He  was  extremely  unpopular.  His  western  provinces 
revolted  while  Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  on  his  north- 

1  Rev.  P.  Hay  Hunter,  author  of  "  After  the  Exile,  "  published  in 
1890. 


CYRUS  THE   GREAT.  15 

eastern  frontier,  was  preparing  with  a  large  army  to  attack 
him  in  Babylonia.  This  purpose  was  unexpectedly  frus- 
trated by  the  youthful  Cyrus,  who  with  "a  little  army" 
marched  against  the  Medians.  On  the  eve  of  battle  the 
troops  of  Astyages  mutinied,  seized  their  commander,  and 
delivered  him  to  the  young  King  of  Elam,  who  with  his 
troops  thus  reinforced  marched  at  once  to  the  Median 
capital,  the  strongly  fortified  city  of  Ecbatana. 

Nabonidos,  on  a  tablet  found  twenty  years  ago  in  Baby- 
lonia, and  brought  to  England  by  Mr.  Rassam,  celebrates 
this  event  as  a  deliverance  for  Babylon,  and  hails  Cyrus  as 
a  favored  son  of  Merodach,  who  had  given  him  the  victory. 

Cyrus  treated  his  captive,  King  Astyages,  with  kindness 
and  courtesy.  He  made  him  satrap,  or  governor,  of  Hyr- 
cania,  an  outlying  district  bordering  on  the  Black  Sea,  and 
is  said  by  Greek  historians  to  have  married  his  daughter. 
The  chief  wife  of  Cyrus  was,  however,  a  princess  of  his  own 
race,  an  Achaemenian,  and  his  marriage  established  a  pre- 
cedent for  alliances  with  the  same  royal  race,  which  was 
followed  by  his  posterity.  His  queen's  name,  as  given  by 
the  Greek  historians,  was  Kassandene.  They  describe  her 
as  a  woman  of  great  ability,  who  had  much  influence  over 
her  husband.  Cyrus  was  deeply  attached  to  her,  and  at  her 
death  caused  great  mourning  to  be  made  for  her  through- 
out his  empire. 

Two  years  after  Cyrus  had  conquered  Media  he  added 
Persia  to  his  dominions.  After  which  Nabonidos,  who  had 
hailed  the  young  conqueror  as  his  deliverer,  began  to  fear 
him.  The  people  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  mighty  empire 
over  which  he  ruled  were  restless ;  his  armies  were  not 
what  they  had  been  in  the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  All 
over  his  dominions  people  of  alien  races,  who,  like  the 
Jews,  had  been  led  away  captive  from  their  own  lands, 
were  watching  for  an  opportunity  either  to  break  into  re- 
volt or  to  undermine  the  power  of  their  oppressors.  All 
eyes  were  beginning  to  be  turned  on  the  young  prince, 
now  King  of  Elam,  Media,  and  Persia  ;  some  looked  to  him 
with  expectation,  some  with  fear.  But  to  the  Jews  the 


1 6  JUDEA. 

name  of  Cyrus  was  a  star  of  hope.  It  had  been  uttered  by 
one  of  their  great  Prophets,  who  had  spoken  of  him  as 
God's  "shepherd,"  and  His  people's  deliverer;  while 
Persians,  Medes,  and  Elamites  looked  eagerly  to  him  as  the 
commander  who  would  lead  them  into  the  fertile  plains  of 
Mesopotamia,  and  to  the  conquest  of  Babylon.  But  it  took 
Cyrus  many  years  to  work  out  this  design,  which  he  had 
entertained  from  the  beginning. 

Nabonidos  did  not  reside  in  Babylon,  but  in  a  suburban 
city.  He  put  his  army  under  command  of  his  son,  Bel- 
shazzar,  whom  he  made  King  of  Babylon,  and  massed  his 
forces  in  Accad,  the  northern  province  of  Babylonia.  He 
himself  preferred  to  remain  inactive.  No  good  is  reported 
of  him  in  history.  He  had  been  bred  a  priest,  and  seems 
to  have  taken  an  interest  in  archaeology,  as  there  is  a  rec- 
ord that  he  rejoiced  greatly  at  the  unearthing  of  an  ancient 
tablet  relating  to  Assyrian  history  in  days  prior  to  the 
date  of  the  migration  of  Abraham.  He  had  never  been 
a  faithful  worshipper  of  the  tutelary  gods  of  Babylon.  He 
had  neglected  Bel  (Merodach)  and  Nebo.  Their  priests 
were  bitterly  opposed  to  him,  and  he  drew  upon  himself 
the  hatred  of  the  provincials  by  a  measure  to  which  he  had 
recourse  when  Cyrus  closed  in  upon  him,  and  reduced  him 
to  despair.  He  resolved  to  placate  Bel  and  Nebo  by 
bringing  into  their  temples,  and  humbling  before  their 
shrines,  the  tutelary  idols  of  his  outlying  provinces,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  would  take  steps  to  stamp  out  the 
foreign  religions  which  had  in  many  places  been  planted 
on  Babylonian  soil. 

A  persecution  of  the  Jews  began.  Up  to  that  time  their 
religion  and  their  customs,  though  treated  by  the  rude 
populace  with  contempt,  had  been  officially  tolerated. 
Many  Jews  had  been  engaged  in  commerce,  and  had  ac- 
quired wealth  ;  others  had  had  offices  of  trust  committed 
to  them ;  but  now,  in  common  with  other  alien  tribes,  their 
religious  observances  were  no  longer  to  be  tolerated. 

From  remote  provinces,  idols  (the  local  divinities  of 
large  districts  and  of  populous  cities)  were  brought  to 


CYRUS   THE   GREAT.  17 

Babylon  and  set  up  in  the  temples  of  Bel  and  Nebo,  not 
for  worship,  but  humiliation.  As  the  Jews  had  no  idols 
that  could  be  degraded  thus,  their  punishment  was  meted 
out  to  them  by  personal  ill-treatment.  Numbers  aposta- 
tized, in  order  to  save  their  property  or  their  lives,  but  a 
pious  remnant  stood  firm,  and  watched  for  the  coming  of 
Cyrus,  their  promised  deliverer. 

Alas  !  Cyrus  did  not  come.  He  crossed  the  Tigris  at 
the  fords  of  Arbela,  was  soon  after  met  by  the  force  under 
Belshazzar,  fought  a  battle  in  which  he  gained  no  decided 
advantage,  and  turned  back  into  Media.  Hope  waned 
for  a  season. 

Next  year  Cyrus  made  the  same  attempt,  and  was  again 
discomfited.1  For  nearly  ten  years  he  postponed  his 
design  of  overthrowing  the  Babylonian  empire  and  install- 
ing himself  in  its  capital.  His  policy  was  to  strip  Babylon 
of  her  outlying  provinces,  and  not  to  attack  the  central 
power  until  all  men  should  behold  her  naked  and  undone. 
In  539,  after  conquering  Asia  Minor,  and  extending  his 
dominions  from  the  mountains  of  Afghanistan  to  the  Med- 
iterranean sea,  he  made  his  third  attempt  to  reach  Babylon, 
"  that  great  city,"  and  to  dethrone  Nabonidos.  He  ad- 
vanced this  time,  not  from  the  north  or  east,  but  through 
the  southern  provinces  of  the  empire,  where  men's  minds 
were  especially  embittered  against  Nabonidos  on  account 
of  the  insults  he  had  offered  to  their  gods. 

Cyrus  was  not  —  as  was  believed  by  historians  and  com- 
mentators until  the  discovery  of  original  autobiographical 
documents  —  a  monotheist,  a  disciple  of  Zoroaster.  He 
may  have  had  some  tincture  of  that  religion,  derived  from 
Persian  ancestors,  but  to  the  Babylonians  he  announced 
himself  as  the  servant  and  vicegerent  of  Merodach,  sent 
to  punish  those  who  had  degraded  and  defamed  their 
tutelary  gods. 

1  It  was  during  one  of  these  expeditions  that  the  event  took  place 
on  which  the  legend  connecting  itself  with  Sardanapalus  has  been 
founded.  A  Chaldean  vassal  king,  rather  than  yield,  made  of  his 
treasures  a  funeral  pyre,  on  which  he  immolated  himself  and  his 
household.  2 


1 8  JUDEA. 

The  religious  position  that  Cyrus  took  seems  to  have 
been  that  Merodach  "  the  god  of  gods,  the  god  of  heaven, 
the  pure  and  the  supreme,"  was  his  own  personal  deity. 
Other  gods  might  find  places  in  his  pantheon  as  secondary 
divinities,  and  might  be  invoked  as  mediators  and 
intermediaries  between  himself  and  Merodach  his  lord; 
while  among  their  hereditary  worshippers  in  their  own 
cities  or  provinces  they  ought  to  be  reverenced  and 
feared. 

Cyrus,  on  his  final  invasion  of  Babylonia,  marched  with  a 
vast  army,  which  he  himself  describes  as  "  innumerable, 
like  the  waters  of  a  river."  He  fought  one  pitched  battle 
with  the  half-hearted  forces  of  Nabonidos,  met  with  suc- 
cess, and  encountered  no  further  opposition.  All  towns 
opened  their  gates  to  him,  and  left  him  an  uninterrupted 
road  to  the  capital.  Nabonidos  fled  within  its  walls  and 
sought  a  hiding-place.  When  a  division  of  the  Persian 
army  under  a  lieutenant  approached  the  mighty  walls  of 
the  great  city  the  brazen  gates  were  thrown  open,  and  with 
no  effort  to  defend  itself  world-famous  Babylon  fell.1 

Nabonidos  was  discovered.     He  was  bound  with  chains, 

1  No  mention,  of  course,  is  made  in  the  inscriptions  of  Belshazzar's 
feast  on  the  eve  of  his  destruction.  But  historically  speaking,  it  is 
not  improbable  that  after  his  defeat  within  no  great  distance  from 
his  capital,  he  made  his  way  to  his  own  city  of  Babylon.  His  father, 
Nabonidos,  was  already  there,  and  fearing  the  Babylonian  populace 
as  much  as  he  did  Cyrus,  he  was  in  hiding.  It  would  have  been  quite 
in  character  for  a  Babylonian  prince  to  have  held  a  great  carouse 
even  when  threatened  with  impending  danger.  "  And  that  night," 
says  the  Biblical  account  of  the  fall  of  Babylon,  "was  Belshazzar  the 
king  of  the  Chaldeans  slain,"  —  thus  corroborating  the  account  in  the 
inscription,  that  the  gates  were  thrown  open  by  those  within,  without 
assault  or  fighting.  Moreover,  the  name  of  Belshazzar  never  again 
occurs  in  the  inscriptions,  which  assuredly  it  would  have  done  had  he 
been  living  and  taken  prisoner.  "  And  Darius  the  Median,"  con- 
tinues the  Scriptural  account,  "  took  the  kingdom."  Darius,  for  Cyrus, 
may  be  the  error  of  a  transcriber  misled  by  the  account  of  the  Greek 
historians,  who  have  confounded  the  taking  of  Babylon  by  the  army 
of  Cyrus  with  a  subsequent  siege  when  the  city  revolted  against 
Darius  Nothus,  and  was  taken  by  him  under  the  circumstances 
related  by  Herodotus  and  recopied  from  him. 


CYRUS   THE   GREAT.  19 

and  a  few  months  later  died  a  prisoner,  receiving  from 
Cyrus  and  his  son  a  royal  funeral.  All  this  is  not  told  us 
by  Greek  historians,  although  they  claimed,  a  hundred 
years  after  these  events,  to  have  consulted  Persian  archives  ; 
but  in  the  summer  of  1879,  some  Arabs  digging  in  the  Birs 
Nimrud  unearthed  a  broken  cylinder  of  clay,  written  all 
over  with  an  account  of  the  taking  of  Babylon.  It  is  now 
in  the  British  Museum.  Apparently  it  had  been  deposited 
by  Cyrus  among  the  archives  in  the  great  temple  of  Mero- 
dach  in  Babylon.  It  is  barrel-shaped,  about  nine  inches 
long,  with  a  diameter  of  rather  more  than  four  inches  in 
the  middle.  It  contained  originally  about  one  thousand 
words  in  Babylonian  cuneiform  writing,  —  that  is,  with 
letters  that  are  wedge-shaped.  We  have  also  an  annal- 
istic  tablet  found  by  Mr.  Rassam  among  Babylonian  ruins, 
on  which  Cyrus  has  recorded  the  events  of  the  latter  years 
of  Nabonidos'  reign,  and  those  of  the  first  year  of  his  own 
rule  as  King  of  Babylon. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  readers  not  familiar  with  archae- 
ology to  read  what  Cyrus  had  to  say  of  himself  when  he 
took  possession  of  his  new  capital  in  October,  539  B.C. 
"  I  entered  Babylon  in  peace,"  he  records  upon  his  cylin- 
der ;  "  the  magnates  and  the  priests  kissed  my  feet.  They 
rejoiced  in  my  coming.  Their  faces  shone." 

Any  distinct  idea  of  a  Divinity  who  was  the  God  of  the 
whole  earth,  the  Ruler  and  Benefactor  of  all  mankind,  is  no- 
where to  be  found  in  the  heathen  world,  although  all  my- 
thologies seem  to  have  had  some  conception  of  a  supreme 
god  who  had  power  over  the  other  deities  ;  an  idea  probably 
derived  from  some  primeval  revelation  concerning  the  Lord 
Almighty.  Each  province  and  city  in  the  pagan  world  had 
its  local  god,  who  had  in  charge  the  welfare  of  his  worship- 
pers, and  of  their  province  or  city.1  To  him  was  due  a 
certain  form  of  devotion  ;  and  strangers  who  settled  in  the 
territory  under  his  protection  were  bound  to  adopt  the 
local  religion. 

1  Much  as  patron  saints  in  the  middle  ages  were  looked  up  to  by 
the  peasantry  as  honored  guardians  of  some  mediaeval  city. 


2O  JUDEA. 

Formerly  Cyrus  was  supposed  to  have  been  a  follower 
of  Zoroaster;  but  the  religion  of  Zoroaster  was  not  the 
religion  of  the  land  of  his  birth,  and  he  was  not  even  a 
monotheist,  as  we  now  know  by  the  inscriptions  on  his 
tablets  and  cylinder.  He  may  possibly  have  had  some 
vague  conception  of  a  God  of  the  whole  universe,  whom 
in  Babylon  he  called  Merodach,  in  Persia,  Ormazd,  and  in 
dealings  with  the  Jews,  the  God  of  Heaven ;  and  Jewish 
scribes,  when  copying  his  proclamations  (though  undoubt- 
edly no  subject  would  have  dared  to  change  one  word  that 
set  forth  his  sovereign's  will,  or  that  altered  his  titles),  may 
have  conceived  themselves  justified  in  translating  the  name 
and  titles  of  Merodach,  "  the  Great  God,"  "  the  God  of 
Heaven,"  into  that  of  their  own  Jehovah.  This  is  the  more 
likely  because  the  decree  of  Cyrus  authorizing  the  return  of 
the  Jewish  exiles  was,  as  we  have  it,  copied  by  Ezra,  at  least 
eighty  years  after  the  great  king's  death,  from  the  original 
document  preserved  by  the  Jews  as  the  charter  of  their 
liberation.  In  all  respects,  except  the  insertion  of  the  word 
"Jehovah,"  the  decree  is  almost  an  exact  transcript,  not 
only  in  style,  but  even  in  words,  of  what  Cyrus  wrote  upon 
his  cylinder. 

One  of  his  first  acts,  when  he  found  himself  firmly  seated 
at  Babylon  on  his  imperial  throne,  was  to  reverse  the  re- 
ligious policy  of  his  predecessor. 

He  issued  an  edict  by  which  all  people  of  various  nations 
and  languages  in  his  dominions  who,  like  the  Jews,  had  been 
led  into  captivity,  should  be  allowed  to  return  to  their  own 
lands,  taking  with  them  the  captive  images  of  their  local  gods. 

"  I  assembled  all  those  nations,"  he  says  upon  his 
cylinder,  "  and  I  caused  them  to  go  back  to  their  own 
countries." 

Among  these  nations  were  the  Jews,  and  they  must  have 
had  peculiar  claims  to  the  consideration  of  the  new  ruler. 
Doubtless  he  was  shown  his  own  name  in  their  books  of 
prophecy.  It  is  certain  they  had  exulted  over  his  first  suc- 
cesses, and  had  been  persecuted  in  consequence  ;  it  is 
possible  that  they  had  even  intrigued  to  procure  his  peace- 


CYRUS   THE   GREAT.  21 

able  entry  into  his  great  capital.  Many  of  them  too  had 
become  rich  and  influential  men,  as  we  know  from  the 
tablets  of  the  great  banking-house  that  have  been  so  won- 
derfully preserved  for  us. 

Of  the  motives  of  Cyrus  for  the  favor  shown  the  Jews, 
we  are  not  told  either  by  history  or  in  Scripture,  but  we 
know  that  in  the  year  538  B.C.  he  issued  a  decree,  which 
has  been  preserved  for  us  by  Ezra,  which  was  duplicated 
in  Babylon,  copied  on  papyrus,  and  laid  up  among  royal 
archives  in  the  muniment  room  of  the  seven-walled  fortress 
of  Ecbatana,  where  the  kings  of  Babylon  in  summer  con- 
tinued to  reside. 

'•'  Thus  saith  Cyrus,  King  of  Persia  :  The  Lord  God  of  heaven 
hath  given  me  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  he  hath 
charged  me  to  build  him  a  house  at  Jerusalem  which  is  in 
Judah.  Who  is  there  among  you  of  all  his  people  ?  His  God 
be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  Judah, 
and  build  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  (he  is  the  God) 
which  is  in  Jerusalem.  And  whosoever  remaineth  in  any  place 
where  he  sojourneth,  let  the  men  of  his  place  help  him  with 
silver  and  with  gold,  and  with  goods  and  with  beasts,  beside 
the  free-will  offering  for  the  house  of  God  which  is  at 
Jerusalem." 

It  is  possible  that  Cyrus  also  may  have  seen  in  the  res- 
toration of  the  Jews  to  their  own  land,  and  in  the  building 
of  their  hill  fortress  on  the  Temple  Mount,  a  stroke  of 
policy.  He  probably  expected  that  a  much  larger  propor- 
tion of  his  Jewish  subjects  in  Babylonia  would  take  advantage 
of  his  generosity  than  the  miserable  remnant,  one  tenth  of 
whom  were  priests  or  temple  servitors,  who  followed  Zerub- 
babel  back  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  as  he  intended  to  extend  his 
authority  to  Egypt,  the  only  part  of  the  old  Babylonian 
Empire  which  had  not  yet  submitted  to  his  sway,  he  may 
have  felt  the  importance  of  such  a  stronghold  as  Jerusalem 
might  become  in  the  hands  of  a  grateful  and  warlike  popu- 
lation, as  a  protection  to  his  line  of  communication  with  his 
own  land. 

Cyrus  probably  concerned  himself  little  about  prophecies 


22  JUDEA. 

which  fixed  the  duration  of  the  Captivity  of  the  Jewish 
people.  But  reckoning  from  the  year  597  B.C.,  when  Nebu- 
chadnezzar had  carried  away  the  first  Judean  captives,  sixty 
years  had  all  but  passed  when  the  edict  was  issued  per- 
mitting their  return.  The  destruction  of  the  Temple,  of 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  national  life  of  the  Jews, 
was,  however,  half  a  century  anterior  to  the  return  of  the 
repatriated  exiles  by  imperial  permission  in  537  B.C. 

Resident  in  Babylon  and  held  in  high  estimation  by  his 
countrymen,  was  Zerubbabel  the  Prince  of  Judah,  the  lineal 
descendant  of  David ;  and,  had  there  been  any  question  of 
national  revolt,  he  would  have  been  his  nation's  lawful 
sovereign.  To  him  was  assigned  the  honor  of  leading 
back  to  their  own  land  the  band  of  pious  enthusiasts  who 
were  disposed  to  take  advantage  of  the  royal  decree.  It 
was  not  inconsistent  with  Babylonian  policy  to  make  an 
ex-king  or  a  possible  pretender  ruler  over  some  outlying 
district,  with  authority  over  the  very  people  who  would 
naturally  be  most  attached  to  him.  Cyrus  seems  to  have 
had  no  fear  whatever  of  the  pretensions  of  Zerubbabel,  but 
the  Jews,  animated  by  their  national  hope  that  a  prince  of 
David's  line  should  restore  again  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  take 
signal  vengeance  on  their  enemies,  and  put  all  heathen 
nations  under  his  feet,  were  exultant  when  they  set  forth,  a 
small  but  eager  company,  headed  by  their  prince,  and  by 
Joshua  their  high-priest,  who  was  descended  from  Zadok 
of  the  house  of  Aaron. 

Both  prince  and  pontiff  had  been  born  in  Babylon,  and 
neither  had  ever  exercised  royal  rule  or  priestly  functions. 
The  prince  could  not  govern  without  a  kingdom,  the  high- 
priest  needed  the  Temple  to  perform  his  service  to  the 
Lord  Jehovah. 

Zerubbabel  was  grandson  of  Jechoniah,  the  young  king 
who  had  reigned  in  Jerusalem  three  months,  was  then  car- 
ried off  by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  597  B.C.,  and  kept  thirty-six 
years  in  captivity,  until  he  was  released  and  kindly  treated 
by  Evil-Merodach,  Nebuchadnezzar's  successor.  Possibly 
his  captivity  was  less  rigorous  than  that  of  a  prisoner  in  a 


CYRUS   THE   GREAT.  2$ 

dungeon.  He  may  (like  Saint  Paul  afterwards  in  Rome) 
have  had  the  alleviation  of  intercourse  with  his  relatives 
and  countrymen.  At  any  rate  he  had  a  son  born  to  him, 
probably  in  Babylon,  Shealtiel  or  Salathiel,  who  was  the 
father  of  Zerubbabel. 

The  high-priest  Joshua,  the  son  of  Jozadak,  was  descend- 
ed from  Zadok,  who  by  authority  of  Solomon  had  super- 
seded Abiathar,  the  high-priest  under  David,  who  had 
followed  through  good  and  ill  the  chequered  fortunes  of 
his  sovereign.  This  appointment  of  Zadok  to  be  high- 
priest,  though  on  the  part  of  Solomon  a  stroke  of  policy, 
was  really  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy.  Zadok  was  the  de- 
scendant of  Phineas,  the  son  of  Aaron ;  Abiathar  was 
descended  from  Ithamar,  another  son.  To  the  house  of 
Ithamar  belonged  Eli  and  his  wicked  sons ;  and  their  depo- 
sition from  the  chief-priesthood  fulfilled  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  which  was  spoken  to  Eli ;  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass 
that  every  one  that  is  left  in  thine  house  shall  come  and 
crouch  to  him  [the  chief-priest]  for  a  piece  of  silver  and  a 
morsel  of  bread,  and  shall  say  :  Put  me,  I  pray  thee,  into 
somewhat  about  the  priesthood  that  I  may  eat  a  piece  of 
bread." 

The  band  of  pilgrims  led  by  prince  and  pontiff,  by  no 
means  included  all  the  Jews  in  Babylonia.  Seventy  years 
before,  Nebuchadnezzar  had  carried  off  200,000  captives, 
and  tens  of  thousands  more  when  he  finally  destroyed 
Jerusalem.  Besides  these,  the  descendants  of  the  Ten 
Tribes  were  settled  in  the  land.  But  the  return  was  not 
popular.  "  Many  stayed  behind,"  says  Josephus,  "being 
unwilling  to  leave  their  possessions."  And  in  truth  the 
prospect  before  the  band  of  returning  exiles  was  not  a 
cheering  one,  unless  they  were  animated  by  Messianic 
hopes  which  centred  on  Zerubbabel,  the  son  of  David, 
and  the  reconstruction  of  the  House  of  God.  Many  Jews 
had  adopted  the  idea  that  Jehovah  might  be  worshipped  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,  by  prayer,  by  acquaintance  with  the 
sacred  records,  and  by  observance  of  the  Law,  without 
sacrifices,  without  a  mercy-seat,  without  the  Temple. 


24  JUDEA. 

Of  the  42,360  exiles  who  followed  Zerubbabel  and 
Joshua  (besides  7337  household  servants),  one-tenth  were 
priests,  and  245  were  singers  and  subordinates  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Temple.  Among  these  there  were  only  74 
Levites.  Already  there  may  have  been  disaffection  in  the 
priestly  tribe,  a  schism  grounded  on  jealousy  in  the  family 
of  Aaron.  Ezekiel,  whose  authority  among  his  countrymen 
in  Babylonia  had  been  very  great,  had  clearly  indicated  that 
only  the  posterity  of  Zadok  were  eligible  to  high  offices  in 
the  priesthood.  Other  members  of  the  family  of  Aaron, 
and  all  other  descendants  of  Levi  were  relegated  to  inferior 
offices  in  the  Temple  service.  The  Levites  and  the  ex- 
cluded descendants  of  Ithamar  resented  this.  A  schism 
was  already  growing  between  the  two  orders  of  Aaronic 
priests,  and  also  between  priests  and  Levites,  the  wealthy 
and  the  poor. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  the  number  42,360 
represented  only  the  heads  of  families,  but  this  is  alto- 
gether improbable.  We  know  that  when  the  exiles  reached 
the  promised  land  it  was  a  very  small  number  that  gathered 
round  the  ruined  walls  of  Jerusalem.  We  know  also  that 
at  this  day  a  camel  for  two  pilgrims  is  the  very  least  allowed 
to  travellers  in  a  caravan  that  is  to  cross  a  desert  in  Central 
Asia.  This  caravan  had  only  435  camels,  736  horses,  245 
mules,  6720  asses.  There  could  have  been  few  women  or 
children  among  the  travellers,  for  lack  of  transportation ; 
while  they  had  in  addition  to  provide  for  the  conveyance 
of  provisions,  of  household  goods,  and  of  the  treasures  with 
which  Cyrus  had  intrusted  them,  —  the  restored  vessels  of 
gold,  silver,  and  less  precious  metals,  plundered  by  Nebu- 
zardan  from  the  desecrated  Temple.  Four-fifths  of  the 
party  must  have  made  the  five  months'  journey  on  foot; 
they  must  have  had  with  them  also  flocks  and  herds,  from 
which  to  make  sacrificial  offerings  on  their  arrival  at  the 
former  site  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  worldly  men  who  had  acquired 
position  and  wealth  in  Babylon  were  not  disposed  to  quit 
their  homes,  and  to  set  forth,  hardly  knowing  whither  they 


CYRUS    THE    GREAT.  2$ 

went,  or  what  were  their  future  prospects,  to  recolonize  the 
land  of  their  fathers,  to  recultivate  waste  fields,  and  to  re- 
build ruined  cities,  even  if  the  chief  object  of  the  expedi- 
tion was  to  restore  the  worship  of  Jehovah  in  the  sacred 
city.  They  gave  freely  of  their  wealth  to  further  the  pur- 
poses of  their  younger,  more  enthusiastic,  more  patriotic 
countrymen,  but  they  stayed  behind,  unwilling  to  exchange 
comfortable  homes  and  brightening  business  prospects  for 
inevitable  hardships  and  problematical  glory. 

A  certain  revenge  was  taken  upon  them  for  this  indiffer- 
ence. A  list  of  all  heads  of  families,  and  their  followers, 
who  had  joined  the  emigration,  was  drawn  up  and  deposited 
among  the  archives  stored  in  Jerusalem.  Thenceforward 
all  whose  names  were  found  therein  constituted  the  aristoc- 
racy. The  Roll  of  the  Congregation  was  to  the  Jew  what 
the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey  was  afterwards  to  the  Normans. 

Cyrus  restored  them  all  the  gold  and  silver  vessels  of 
the  Temple,  and  as  we  read  the  record  we  are  astonished 
at  their  number.  He  sent  also  an  escort  to  protect  them 
through  the  desert.  These  treasures  were  delivered  into 
the  care  of  Sheshbazzar,  called  in  the  record  the  Prince  of 
Judah,  and  therefore  commonly  identified  with  Zerubbabel. 
But  it  is  hard  to  understand  why  Zerubbabel  should  have 
had  two  Babylonian  names,  Zerubbabel  already  signifying 
"  one  born  in  Babylon." 

Among  the  holy  furnishings  of  Solomon's  Temple  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant,  with  the  sacred  objects  it  contained, 
had  held  the  first  place.  It  was  the  sign  of  the  Divine 
Presence  in  the  Wilderness,  in  the  Tabernacle  at  Shiloh, 
and  in  Solomon's  Temple.  It  was  wanting  in  the  Sec- 
ond Temple.  A  Jewish  tradition  said  it  was  buried  on 
the  Temple  Mount,  on  a  spot  afterwards  covered  by  the 
store  of  wood  used  on  the  Altar  of  Sacrifice.  No  allusion 
is  made  to  its  loss  in  the  books  of  Ezra  or  Nehemiah.  It 
was  probably  destroyed  when  the  First  Temple  was  pillaged 
by  the  army  of  Nebuzardan,  the  lieutenant  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Neither  was  the  sacred  breastplate  —  the  Urim 
and  Thummim  —  found  among  the  restored  treasures,  nor 


26  JUDEA. 

the  cherubim  with  wings  that  overspread  the  mercy-seat. 
Thenceforward  when  the  Holy  of  Holies  was  rebuilt  there 
was  nothing  in  it.  Pompey  and  Titus  both  saw  it  empty, 
and  were  impressed  by  this  evidence  of  the  spiritual  worship 
of  the  God  of  the  Jews. 

The  caravan  of  repatriated  exiles  set  forth  from  Bab- 
ylon in  the  same  month  (March)  in  which  their  ancestors, 
almost  a  thousand  years  before  (1491  B.C.),  began  their 
journey  after  deliverance  from  Egyptian  bondage.  But 
though  small  were  their  numbers,  and  doubtful  as  must 
have  seemed  to  many  the  issue  of  their  enterprise,  there 
were  some  who  felt  confident  that  the  glory  of  this  new 
deliverance  from  captivity  would  surely  surpass  all  that  had 
gone  before.  No  longer  would  men  say :  "  As  Jehovah 
liveth,  which  brought  up  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt ;  "  but,  "  As  Jehovah  liveth  which  brought  up 
and  which  led  the  seed  of  the  house  of  Israel  out  of  the 
north  country,  and  from  all  countries  whither  I  had  driven 
them."1 

The  band  of  pilgrims,  animated  by  hope,  confident  in 
divine  help,  and  buoyed  up  by  half-understood  prophecy, 
set  out  on  their  long  march  with  enthusiasm.  They  were 
accompanied  on  the  first  stage  of  their  journey  by  friends 
and  relatives,  dancing  gayly  to  the  strains  of  the  tabret  and 
flute.  As  caravans  of  Mussulmans  still  cross  the  deserts  of 
Central  Asia  on  their  way  to  Mecca,  singing  hymns  as  they 
march  on,  so  bands  of  choristers  and  musicians,  for  there 
were  many  of  these  among  the  pilgrims,  chanted  songs  of 
praise  for  the  great  deliverance.  Their  prince  rode  in  their 
midst,  and  many  secret  hopes  were  fixed  on  such  a  leader. 
The  Levites  bore  on  high  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  Temple  ; 
"  the  Lord  Jehovah  was  their  strength  and  their  song,  and 
had  become  their  salvation." 

We  know  no  particulars  of  the  five  months'  journey.     It 

was     apparently    without    events.     The    caravan    probably 

followed   the    great  northern  road  over  which,  fifty  years 

before,  their  ancestors  had  been  driven  by  the  cruel  whips 

1  Jeremiah  xxiii.  7,  8. 


CYRUS   THE    GREAT.  2/ 

of  the  soldiers  of  Nebuzardan.  They  probably  set  forth  by 
what  was  called  the  Royal  Road  along  the  right  bank  of 
the  Euphrates,  past  the  mounds  of  ruined  Nineveh,  past 
Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  associated  with  the  history  of  Abraham, 
where  was  the  great  temple  of  Bel  Merodach  the  moon 
god.  For  in  Babylonian  mythology  the  moon  took  pre- 
cedence of  the  sun,  and  was  the  first  among  divinities.  In 
the  Assyrian  speech,  as  in  Germany  to  this  day,  the  moon  was 
masculine,  and  the  sun  feminine.  Leaving  the  shores  of 
the  great  river,  the  caravan  commenced  its  march  across 
the  desert,  a  hard,  dry  plain,  with  neither  mountains,  forest, 
nor  streams  to  break  its  wearisome  monotony.  They  may 
have  skirted  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  and  passed  by 
Aleppo  and  Damascus,  if  they  entered  Palestine  on  its 
northern  boundary. 

The  exiles  after  their  toilsome  journey  came  at  last  to 
Jerusalem  to  gaze  with  mingled  joy  and  grief  upon  a  scene 
of  desolation. 

Already  their  enthusiastic  hopes  had  received  rude  shocks 
by  the  progress  of  events.  Generously  as  Cyrus  had  treated 
them,  he  had  not  proved  himself  that  conquering  prince 
who,  they  had  hoped,  would  put  their  foes  under  their  feet ; 
who  would  proclaim  their  God  to  be  the  God  of  all  gods,  and 
their  nation  His  peculiar  people.  They  had  looked  for  a  De- 
liverer whose  garments  would  be  dyed  in  blood,  who  would 
grind  to  dust  such  idols  as  were  made  of  metal  or  of  marble, 
and  burn  those  made  of  wood  in  devouring  fire.  Instead 
of  this,  Cyrus  had  entered  Babylon  in  peace  and  triumph, 
had  restored  the  local  idols,  and  had  tamely  granted  to  the 
Jews  permission  to  return.  He  had  indeed  restored  them 
such  spoils  of  their  Temple  as  had  been  carried  to  Babylon. 
He  had  granted  them  permission  to  rebuild  the  House 
of  their  God,  but  these  privileges  they  shared  with  other 
nations.  The  great  king,  claiming  for  himself  the  honor 
of  the  work,  had  even  prescribed  the  dimensions  of  God's 
Temple.  He  had  promised  in  part  to  bear  the  cost  of 
raising  it.  He  had  given  them  a  thousand  horsemen  to  see 
them  safe  across  the  Desert.  He  had  sent  letters  to  the 


28  JUDEA. 

satrap  residing  in  Samaria  to  see  that  they  should  settle 
unmolested  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem.  He  had 
made  Zerubbabel,  their  Prince,  pekah  of  Judea.  But  all  this 
was  not  the  triumph  they  had  looked  for.  Such  favor  from 
heathen  princes  seemed  humiliation. 

The  pekah  was  only  governor  of  an  appointed  district, 
with  the  satrap  of  the  province  "beyond  the  river"  for 
his  official  superior. 

Great  must  have  been  the  exiles'  disappointment  and 
their  grief;  for  doubtless  they  had  looked  for  some  mir- 
acle when  they  beheld  the  gray  desolation  of  the  Temple 
Mount,  and  of  the  sacred  city.  Only  scattered  blocks  of 
enormous  size  lay  all  around  them,  arid  shattered  stones  de- 
tached from  ruined  walls  and  ancient  buildings. 

Around  the  city  foreign  settlers  had  apparently  been 
warned  to  offer  no  opposition  to  the  people  who  brought 
with  them  assurances  of  the  great  king's  protection.  No 
man  dwelt  among  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem ;  and  the  returned 
exiles,  for  the  most  part,  made  shift  to  take  up  their  quarters 
in  a  little  belt  of  land  around  what  had  been  once  their 
national  capital. 

We  learn  from  the  prophets  that  Judea  had  become  a 
sort  of  no-man's-land,  sparsely  inhabited,  and  badly  culti- 
vated. The  first  care  of  the  new-comers  was  to  pro- 
vide themselves  with  shelter  and  the  means  of  subsistence, 
and  by  degrees  they  formed  Jewish  colonies  in  outlying 
towns  and  villages.  These  colonies  were  so  important  that 
Tekoa,  for  example,  was  disposed  to  dispute  supremacy  with 
Jerusalem. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  country,  though  they 
offered  no  forcible  opposition  to  the  exiles,  were  far  from 
receiving  them  with  favor.  The  Jews  who  had  been 
suffered  to  remain  upon  the  soil  of  Judea  had  been  exclu- 
sively men  of  the  lowest  class.  Some  few  had  kept  their 
faith  and  maintained  their  Jewish  customs,  but  the  most 
part  had  married  heathen  wives,  and  their  children  had  been 
brought  up  among  pagan  associations.  Few  Jews  in  Baby- 
lonia had  married  women  not  of  their  own  race ;  they  had 


CYRUS   THE   GREAT.  2$ 

allied  themselves  scrupulously  with  other  families  of  their 
favored  nation.  The  Jews  of  Judea  knew  what  the  re- 
turned exiles  would  think  of  their  apostasy,  and  dreaded 
the  social  disturbances  that  would  be  caused  by  their 
arrival. 

The  first  thought  of  the  new  colonists,  as  soon  as  they 
had  secured  food  and  shelter,  was  to  restore  the  worship 
of  Jehovah  on  His  Sacred  Hill.  The  large  body  of  priests 
among  them,  whom  the  influence  of  Joshua  and  the  pros- 
pect of  supreme  consideration  when  the  Temple  should  be 
built  had  induced  to  make  the  journey,  and  their  smaller 
following  of  Levites  and  inferior  servitors  of  the  Temple 
were  stimulated,  not  only  by  devotion,  but  by  their  worldly 
interests,  to  desire  the  restoration  of  national  worship.  These 
men  "lived  by  the  altar;  "  that  is,  they  were  fed  from  the 
offerings  of  fruits,  flour,  oil,  and  wine,  besides  unconsumed 
parts  of  the  animals  offered  in  sacrifice.  They  had  there- 
fore a  personal  interest  in  the  early  resumption  of  sacri- 
ficial rites.  All  classes  set  to  work  at  once  to  clear  away 
the  rubbish  on  the  platform  where  the  Temple  had  once 
stood  upon  the  Sacred  Hill.  They  hurried  the  erection  of 
the  altar  of  burnt-offering,  of  which  they  discovered 
the  former  foundations,  and  in  September,  537  B.  c.,  all  the 
returned  exiles,  leaving  the  building  of  their  homes  and 
the  cultivation  of  their  fields,  repaired  "  as  one  man  "  to 
the  Sacred  Mount  to  be  present  at  the  festivals  of  the 
season,  when  for  the  first  time  for  half  a  century  priests 
and  Levites  once  more  did  their  office  upon  Jewish  soil, 
and  the  blood  of  victims  daily  flowed  at  morning  and  at 
evening. 

As  soon  as  the  caravan  had  reached  Jerusalem,  heads  of 
families  had  begun  to  contribute  treasure  for  the  rebuilding 
of  the  Temple  and  the  restoration  of  public  worship. 
Free-will  offerings  were  liberally  made  from  treasures 
brought  by  them  from  Babylonia.  They  also  caused  priestly 
garments  to  be  made,  so  that  all  was  ready  when  the  ap- 
pointed day  arrived  for  the  resumption  of  public  worship. 
From  that  hour,  for  six  centuries  nothing  but  the  might  of 


30  JUDEA. 

an  oppressor  suspended  the  daily  sacrifices.  Victims  were 
every  day  provided  for  morning  and  for  evening  sacrifice, 
and  the  New  Moons  and  other  feasts  were  celebrated  with 
profusion,  in  spite  of  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ZERUBBABEL,  THE  PRINCE  OF  JUDAH. 

A  S  soon  as  the  altar  had  been  set  up  among  ruins  on 
^*"  the  Holy  Mount,  all  thoughts  were  turned  to  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Temple.  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua  had 
brought  with  them  a  copy  of  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  in  which 
after  setting  forth  that  the  Lord  God  of  Heaven,  who  had 
given  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  had  directed  him 
to  build  for  Him  a  house  at  Jerusalem,  he  invited  all  Jews 
who  might  feel  so  inclined  to  return  to  their  former  cap- 
ital and  there  rebuild  their  Temple,  assuring  them  of  his 
approval  and  protection. 

Very  few  of  the  exiles  who  in  537  B.  c.  returned  to 
Judea  could  remember  the  Temple  of  Solomon;  they  knew 
of  its  glory  only  by  tradition.  The  young  men  were  the 
grandsons  of  nobles  slaughtered  at  Riblah,  or  carried  cap- 
tive to  Babylon  by  Nebuzardan ;  the  middle-aged  had  been 
born  in  exile,  but  Judea  was  the  Land  of  Promise  to  God's 
people,  the  land  of  their  fathers,  the  scene  of  their  future 
hopes,  and  they  looked  on  it  as  their  home. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  country  surrounding  Jerusalem 
were  far  from  receiving  the  returned  exiles  with  favor,  even 
though  they  came  under  the  protection,  and  with  the  per- 
mission, of  the  Persian  King  of  Babylon.  Zerubbabel,  of 
the  royal  house,  nineteenth  in  descent  from  David,  had 
been  distinctly  appointed  by  Cyrus  pekah,  or  governor,  of 
Judea.  The  Persian  word  Tirshatha  means  the  same  thing. 
Over  him  was  a  sub- satrap  living  in  Samaria,  and  all  Pales- 
tine was  included  in  the  great  satrapy  of  Syria.  The 
modern  dignity  of  a  Turkish  pasha  answers  to  that  of  a 
Persian  satrap,  while  the  Turkish  title  of  the  governor  of 


32  JUDEA. 

a  district  under  him,  is  Caimacan.  M.  Renan  thinks, 
however,  that  Zerubbabel  had  no  local  jurisdiction.  "  He 
was  simply,"  he  says,  "the  head  of  a  religious  community, 
—  a  millat-pasch,  as  such  persons  are  still  called  in  the 
Ottoman  Empire." 

The  land  in  Judea  had  passed  from  its  former  owners, 
no  trade  or  commerce  could  be  carried  on  in  desolate 
Jerusalem,  and  if  the  returned  exiles  were  to  live  upon 
their  crops  they  would  need  time  to  raise  them.  Many 
who  had  quitted  Babylon  with  enthusiasm  and  were  now 
threatened  with  poverty,  may  have  envied  their  brethren 
who  stayed  in  Mesopotamia.  Yet,  though  sick  with  "  hope 
deferred  "  and  threatened  with  famine,  they  still  sang  with 
exultation  psalms  that  compared  their  deliverance  from 
danger  on  their  journey  to  the  miraculous  protection  afforded 
to  their  fathers  under  Moses  in  the  desert,  and  the  Red 
Sea.1 

All  thoughts  were  now  fixed  on  the  due  performance 
of  sacrificial  rites,  the  regulation  of  public  worship,  and 
its  liturgy.  In  Babylonia  the  priests  and  Levites  had  been 
without  employment,  since  their  office  was,  not  to  teach 
the  people,  but  to  preside  over  Divine  worship  in  the 
Temple.  In  their  leisure  they  had  indulged  themselves  in 
dreams  of  a  perfected  ritual ;  the  time  had  now  come,  as 
they  conceived,  to  realize  those  dreams,  and  to  add  com- 
plications to  the  simpler  forms  of  worship  prescribed  by 
Moses  for  the  service  in  the  Tabernacle.  The  regulation 
of  the  Temple  service  proposed  by  Ezekiel  was,  however, 
found  as  impracticable  as  his  measurements  proved  to  be 
for  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  itself.  When  the  great 
work  was  begun,  the  task  of  overseeing  the  workmen  was 
intrusted  to  the  priests  and  Levites,  as  in  the  days  of 
Solomon.  Masons  and  builders  were  brought,  as  formerly, 
from  Tyre  and  Sidon,  cedar  trees  from  Lebanon  were 
floated  by  sea  to  Joppa,  and  thence  transported  forty  miles 
over  rough  roads  to  Jerusalem,  while  stone  was  quarried 

1  See  such  Psalms  as  cxxiv.,  cxxv.,  and  cxxvi.,  full  of  religious 
fervor  and  the  most  beautiful  poetry. 


ZERUBBABEL,    THE  PRINCE   OF  JUDAH.          33 

from  the  Sacred  Hill  itself.  The  funds  needed  for  these 
purposes  came  no  doubt  from  the  contributions  made  by 
rich  men  who  stayed  behind  in  Babylonia,  as  well  as  from 
the  liberal  free-will  offerings  made  by  Zerubbabel,  the  heads 
of  families,  and  even  by  priests  and  Levites  whose  resources 
were  limited. 

We  read  in  Ezra,  in  the  Second  Book  of  Chronicles,  and 
in  Josephus,  of  the  general  rejoicing  when  Zerubbabel,  the 
prince  and  leader,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  sacred  edifice  ; 
of  the  hymns  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  that  were  sung 
by  all  the  people,  with  their  refrain  chanted  responsively 
by  priests  and  worshippers  :  — 

"  Praise  the  Lord  for  He  is  good  ! 
"  For  His  mercy  endureth  forever !  " 

We  read  too  of  cries  of  grief  from  the  voices  of  ancient 
men  who  had  seen  the  first  house  in  its  glory,  and  who 
mingled  the  voice  of  weeping  with  the  shouts  of  joy. 

The  Temple  thus  begun  (535  B.  c.)  might  have  been 
finished  in  four  years,  but  its  completion  was  delayed  for 
twenty.  Difficulties  arose  from  the  hostility  of  the  people 
of  the  land,  and  frequently  no  doubt  the  work  was  stopped 
for  want  of  funds,  but  the  chief  reason  must  be  sought  in 
the  unsettled  condition  of  the  Persian  Empire. 

Cyrus,  the  friend  and  protector  of  the  Jews,  was,  during 
the  later  years  of  his  life,  engaged  in  distant  warfare,  and 
had  no  time  or  thought  to  spare  for  the  affairs  of  a  remote, 
and  (to  him)  an  insignificant  people.  In  the  year  532, 
two  years  after  the  Jews  with  great  rejoicing  laid  the 
foundation  stone  of  their  Temple,  he  quitted  Babylon, 
leaving  there  Cambyses,  "  the  son  of  his  heart,"  as  viceroy. 
For  events  in  the  eight  years  that  followed  we  have  as  yet 
discovered  no  inscription  to  guide  us,  and  that  page  of 
history  is  a  blank.  We  know  that  Cyrus  built  a  splendid 
new  city  and  a  palace  at  Pasargadse  in  the  mountains  lying 
to  the  east  of  Persia ;  that  there  he  stored  great  wealth  ; 
and  that  in  529,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  he  died  in  battle 
with*  a  wild  and  barbarous  tribe  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 

3 


34  JUDEA. 

Sea  of  Aral.  He  was  buried  at  Pasargadse.  His  tomb 
still  stands  there ;  it  is  well  preserved,  but  open  and  empty. 
It  was  intact  when  visited  by  Alexander  of  Macedon, 
whose  historians  have  described  it  as  a  "  house  upon  a 
pedestal,"  entered  by  a  low  and  narrow  door.  A  gilt 
sarcophagus  stood  by  a  couch  with  massive  feet  of  gold. 
The  walls  were  hung  with  Babylonian  tapestries.  On  a 
table  were  deposited  Persian  weapons,  some  jewels,  and 
the  great  king's  bow,  shield,  and  sword ;  besides  these, 
there  were  suits  of  clothing  which  probably  he  had  worn. 
The  inscription  was  an  address  to  whoever  might  visit  the 
place  of  sepulture  :  "  O  man  !  I  am  Cyrus,  the  son  of 
Cambyses,  who  founded  the  greatness  of  Persia,  and  ruled 
Asia.  Grudge  me  not  this  monument." 

When  Alexander  some  months  later  revisited  Pasargadae 
he  found  that  others  had  visited  the  spot,  and  that  the 
tomb  had  been  plundered.  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi!  The 
interest  of  our  modern  world  in  Cyrus  rests  largely  on  the 
favor  and  encouragement  he  showed  the  Jews. 

His  son  Cambyses  succeeded  him.  In  part  he  followed 
the  policy  of  his  father,  but  he  had  none  of  the  noble  vir- 
tues of  the  deceased  king,  though  modern  investigation  has 
discovered  that  he  was  not  the  monster  of  vice  and  of  in- 
sane folly  that  Greek  historians  have  represented  him. 
Like  other  Oriental  sovereigns  he  feared  the  rivalry  of  his 
near  relations,  and  was  especially  jealous  of  the  popularity 
of  his  brother  (or  probably  half-brother)  Bardes,  or  Smerdis, 
a  young  prince  whom  Cyrus  had  made  ruler  of  a  province, 
but  whom  he  never  seems  to  have  loved  as  he  did  his 
eldest  son. 

Cambyses  had  Bardes  secretly  put  to  death  before  he  set 
out  on  an  expedition  to  subdue  Egypt.  All  interest  in  the 
Jews  ceased  at  court.  The  authority  of  Zerubbabel  seems  to 
have  received  some  shock,  probably  from  the  jealousy  of  his 
official  superior,  living  at  Samaria.  Judea  was  rapidly  over- 
run by  bands  of  Persian  soldiers  on  their  way  to  or  from 
Egypt,  and  we  know  from  Greek  historians  what  havoc  was 
wrought,  in  lands  through  which  they  passed,  by  these  half- 


ZERUBBABEL,    THE   PRINCE   OF  JUDAH.          35 

disciplined  troops,  and  still  more  by  their  camp  followers. 
There  was  famine  in  Judea,  crops  were  laid  waste  by  sol- 
diers on  the  march  ;  there  was  no  safety,  no  appeal  from  the 
oppressor.  Nothing  taken  was  paid  for,  everything  was 
seized  under  pretence  of  military  requisition ;  there  was  no 
hire  for  man  or  beast ;  no  man  could  store  up  property ;  to 
lay  by  money  was  to  put  it  in  a  bag  with  holes. 

Cambyses  remained  five  years  in  Egypt.  He  worshipped 
and  honored  the  Egyptian  gods;  and  the  story  of  his 
having  slaughtered  their  sacred  bull  is  now  thought  to  be 
disproved  by  an  inscription.  He  made  an  unsuccessful 
expedition  to  the  Soudan,  and  returned,  greatly  mortified 
by  his  ill-fortune.  Then  he  heard  that  a  conspiracy  against 
him  had  broken  out  in  his  Asiatic  dominions.  A  Magian 
named  Gaumata,  who  bore  some  resemblance  to  the  ill- 
fated  Bardes,  assumed  his  character.  "  The  lie  grew  in  the 
provinces "  says  an  inscription.  Cambyses  hurried  home 
attended  by  his  soldiers  to  chastise  the  impostor  and  restore 
his  own  authority,  when  in  an  obscure  village  of  Syria  a  re- 
volt among  his  own  troops  drove  him  to  despair,  and  he 
committed  suicide.  He  left  no  children,  and  the  Magian 
Gaumata  known  in  history  as  the  pseudo-Smerdis,  con- 
tinued to  reign  for  eight  months.  His  rule  was  character- 
ized by  extreme  severity.  He  put  to  death  by  wholesale 
all  who  had  ever  known  the  true  Bardes  during  his  lifetime  ; 
nevertheless  he  was  popular,  for  he  promised  to  remit  three 
years'  taxes,  and  to  suspend  the  conscription. 

A  conspiracy  was  formed  against  him  by  seven  Persian 
lords,  who,  in  the  year  521,  entered  his  palace,  over- 
powered his  guards,  and  slew  him  with  their  daggers.  They 
then  seated  on  the  throne  the  leading  man  among  them, 
Darius  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  an  Achaemenian  prince,  great- 
grandson  of  Teispes,  from  whom  Cyrus  claimed  descent. 
Of  Hystaspes,  the  father  of  Darius,  little  is  known.  His  son 
made  him  governor  of  a  province.  He  seems  to  have 
been  without  ambition. 

But  before  these  events  had  come  to  pass,  the  returned 
exiles  in  Judea  were  involved  in  other  difficulties. 


36  JUDEA. 

The  Jews  of  mixed  race,  who  in  the  absence  of  instruc- 
tion had  lapsed  from  the  purity  of  Mosaic  Judaism,  were  at 
first  desirous  to  fraternize  with  their  brethren  from  Bab- 
ylonia. They  came  to  Zerubbabel,  to  Joshua,  and  to  the 
heads  of  families,  who  formed  a  kind  of  council,  requesting 
permission  to  join  in  raising  the  Temple,  "  for  that  they 
too,"  as  they  said,  "  were  worshippers  of  Jehovah."  But 
their  offer  of  assistance  was  scornfully  rejected ;  and  thus 
began  the  great  schism  between  orthodox  Jews  and  those 
whose  genealogy  had  some  taint  of  foreign  blood.  These, 
after  their  rebuff,  threw  themselves  heartily  into  alliance 
with  the  Samaritans. 

"  Our  God  is  only  the  God  of  Judah  and  of  Benjamin," 
said  virtually  the  chiefs  of  the  returned  exiles.  This  de- 
cision was  not  only  contrary  to  the  hopes  and  predictions 
of  the  prophets,  —  of  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel,  —  it 
was  wholly  abhorrent  to  that  Divine  Teacher  who  years 
afterwards  sat  by  the  well  at  Sichem,  instructing  a  woman 
of  Samaria  and  her  townspeople  that  Jehovah  was  the  "  God 
of  all  who  worshipped  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,"  and  who 
on  another  occasion  made  the  Good  Samaritan's  large 
charity  a  lesson  to  the  priests  and  Levites  of  the  Jewish 
Church  in  one  of  His  most  beautiful  parables. 

It  was  not  Jesus  who  would  have  answered,  like  his  an- 
cestor Zerubbabel,  "  Ye  have  nothing  to  do  with  us,  to  build 
a  house  for  our  God."  l 

The  hostility  thus  created  soon  gave  birth,  not  only  to 
external  troubles,  but  to  divisions,  violence,  and  heart- 
burnings. 

While  contrasting  the  behavior  of  Zerubabbel  to  these 
"  half  Jews  "  with  that  of  Jesus  to  their  posterity  we  may 
not  forget  to  do  justice  to  the  zeal,  statesmanship,  and  good 
intentions  of  the  Jewish  leaders.  Above  all  things  they 
were  desirous  to  remove  From  the  Jews,  whom  they  were 

1  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  it  observed  in  this  connection 
that  it  was  one  of  such  "half  Jews"  —  Herod,  descended  from 
heathen  Edomites  —  who  five  hundred  years  later  built  the  more 
beautiful  Second  Temple. 


ZERUBBABEL,    THE  PRINCE   OF  JUDAH.          37 

restoring  to  their  own  land,  any  temptation  to  relapse  into 
idolatry.  Thenceforward  the  teachings  of  Moses  might 
be  overlaid  by  casuistry,  but  nothing  impaired  Jewish 
monotheism,  —  nothing  ever  again  detached  the  Jew  from 
the  worship  of  Jehovah. 

The  party  thrown  into  opposition  by  the  vexatious  treat- 
ment given  to  their  proffered  offers  of  assistance  by  Zerub- 
babel  and  the  elders,  attempted  to  resist  the  reconstruction 
of  the  Temple  by  all  sorts  of  intrigues  with  the  Persian 
satrap  and  his  subordinate  officials. 

This,  the  great  work  in  which  the  band  of  exiles  on  set- 
ting out  from  Babylon  with  music  and  dancing  saw  the  very 
object  of  their  return,  at  first  languished,  and  then  ceased, 
owing  partly  to  the  hostility  of  neighbors,  partly  to  the 
unfriendliness  of  the  Persian  sub-satrap  in  Samaria,  who 
was  no  doubt  jealous  of  the  powers  bestowed  upon  Zerub- 
babel,  and  largely  to  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  people, 
loaded  with  debt,  and  in  many  instances  forced  to  sell  their 
own  children  into  slavery.  The  people,  hungry  and  land- 
less, grew  indifferent  and  disheartened. 

Things  went  on  thus  for  about  nine  years,  all  through  the 
reign  of  Cambyses,  until  the  second  year  of  Darius  Hys- 
taspes.  Then,  as  peace  seemed  to  be  restored  in  the 
western  provinces  of  the  empire,  and  armies  of  maraud- 
ing soldiers  marched  no  longer  through  the  land,  Zerub- 
babel  and  Joshua  took  heart,  and  stirred  up  the  people  to 
recommence  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple ;  but  the  flame 
of  enthusiasm  had  burnt  out ;  the  people,  absorbed  in  their 
own  cares,  had  grown  indifferent ;  the  poor  were  busied 
with  attempts  to  reclaim  their  wasted  fields,  and  to  replant 
their  uprooted  vineyards.  The  rich  had  built  for  them- 
selves stately  houses,  appropriating  for  that  purpose  in 
many  instances  the  material  that  had  been  stored  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Temple.  It  seemed  necessary  to  find 
some  way  to  rekindle  religious  and  patriotic  enthusiasm  ; 
and  the  leaders  called  upon  two  prophets,  Haggai  and 
Zechariah,  to  exhort  the  people.  For  several  months  their 
admonitions  and  predictions  were  heard  daily  in  the  streets 


38  JUDEA. 

of  Jerusalem.  Haggai  prophesied  the  future  glories  of  the 
uncompleted  Temple.  Zechariah  gave  forth  a  series  of 
apocalyptic  visions. 

From  a  purely  literary  point  of  view  the  prophecies  of 
Haggai  and  Zechariah  fall  short  of  the  magnificent  utter- 
ances of  the  prophets  who  had  preceded  them ;  and  yet 
there  are  passionate  and  pathetic  outbursts  in  Haggai, 
while  Zechariah  amid  his  visions  has  passages  full  of  noble 
counsels  to  his  countrymen. 

But  when  news  of  fresh  activity  among  the  Jews  reached 
the  ears  of  Tatnai,  the  Persian  deputy  residing  in  Samaria, 
he  conceived  it  his  duty  to  look  into  the  matter,  being 
stimulated  to  it  moreover  by  the  popular  feeling  around 
him.  He  therefore  went  himself  up  to  Jerusalem,  accom- 
panied by  his  secretary  Shethar-bosnai,  and  some  other  of 
his  councillors.  Having  arrived  there  he  demanded  by 
what  authority  the  Temple  was  being  built,  remarking 
that  it  looked  more  like  a  citadel  than  it  did  like  a  house 
of  worship,  standing  as  it  did  on  the  summit  of  a  lofty  hill, 
and  surrounded  by  strong  walls. 

Zerubbabel  and  Joshua  replied  that  a  Temple  such  as 
they  were  building  had  stood  five  hundred  years  on  the 
same  spot,  until  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar ;  that  they 
were  engaged  in  the  work  of  reconstruction  by  favor  of 
King  Cyrus,  who  had  given  them  permission,  not  only  by 
word  of  mouth,  but  by  writing,  and  who  in  addition  had  by 
an  official  document  restored  to  them  the  sacred  vessels 
carried  to  Babylon  after  they  had  been  plundered  from  the 
first  Temple,  that  Nebuchadnezzar  had  destroyed.  "  Now, 
therefore,"  they  added,  "  if  it  seem  good  to  the  king,  let 
there  be  search  made  in  the  king's  treasure  house  which  is 
there  at  Babylon,  whether  it  be  that  a  decree  was  made  of 
Cyrus  the  king  to  build  this  house  of  God  at  Jerusalem, 
and  let  the  king  send  his  pleasure  to  us  concerning  this 
matter." 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  Persian  custom  to  place  with 
every  high  official  intrusted  with  the  government  of  a 
province  or  district  a  man  of  letters  whose  duty  it  was 


ZERUBBABEL,    THE  PRINCE   OF  JUDAH.          39 

to  maintain  correspondence  with  the  king  himself,  by 
means  of  the  admirable  posts  established  through  the 
Empire  by  Darius.  This  man  acted  as  spy,  correspond- 
ent, and  ambassador ;  1  and  he  proceeded  at  once  to  write 
to  King  Darius  an  account  of  all  that  was  taking  place  at 
Jerusalem,  the  suspicions  entertained,  the  steps  to  hinder 
the  work  that  had  been  taken,  and  the  suggestion  of  the 
Jewish  leaders  that  search  should  be  made  for  the  docu- 
ment of  Cyrus  in  the  archives  of  Babylon. 

Tatnai  did  not  dare  to  insist,  upon  his  own  responsibility, 
that  the  work  on  the  Temple  should  be  suspended  until  an 
answer  to  this  communication  was  received,  but  Zerubbabel 
and  Joshua,  pending  the  decision  of  the  king,  thought  it 
prudent  to  dismiss  their  workmen. 

The  decree  of  Cyrus  was  sought  among  the  inscribed 
bricks  stored  among  royal  archives  in  Babylon,  but  it  was 
not  found  there.  Some  state  documents,  however,  were 
known  to  have  been  copied  on  papyrus  scrolls,  and  stored 
in  the  muniment  room  of  a  high  tower  in  the  seven-walled 
city  of  Ecbatana,  one  of  the  three  chief  royal  residences  of 
the  Achsemenian  kings.  There  it  was  found.  A  copy 
was  sent  to  Tatnai,  with  injunctions  that  he  and  his  people 
should  assist  the  work,  and  adding  to  the  favors  bestowed 
upon  the  Jews  by  Cyrus  an  order  to  supply  "  for  the  build- 
ing of  this  House  of  God"  money  derived  from  the  tribute 
paid  by  the  lands  to  the  west  of  the  great  river  Euphrates. 
Bullocks,  rams,  and  lambs  were  also  to  be  furnished  to  the 
priests  for  sacrifice  when  the  Temple  should  be  completed, 
besides  wheat,  salt,  wine,  and  oil.  It  was  enjoined  upon 
the  Jews  to  offer  prayers  for  the  life  of  the  king  and  of  the 
king's  sons ;  and  any  one  disobeying  the  king's  will,  as  ex- 
pressed in  this  document,  was  to  be  treated  after  the  Per- 
sian fashion  of  punishing  a  traitor,  with  exemplary  cruelty. 

When  this  document  was  delivered  to  Zerubbabel  and 
his  fellow-builders  they  rejoiced  with  great  joy,  and  the 
work  went  on  rapidly  when  assured  of  royal  encouragement. 

1  Much  like  Spanish  envoys  at  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  the 
days  of  Philip  II. 


40  JUDEA. 

The  Temple  was  completed  in  the  spring  of  515  B.C., 
about  seventy  years  after  the  destruction  of  the  First  Temple. 
The  Feast  of  Dedication  was  held  with  great  rejoicing, 
and  so  was  the  Passover  that  immediately  followed.  As 
King  Darius  furnished  the  victims,  there  was  no  lack  of  bul- 
locks, rams,  and  lambs  for  sacrifice ;  and  heartfelt  thanks- 
givings were  offered  to  the  Lord,  who  had  turned  the  heart 
of  the  King  of  Persia  "to  strengthen  their  hands  in  the 
work  of  the  House  of  God  —  the  God  of  Israel." 

We  need  not  dwell  long  on  the  organization  of  the  Jewish 
ritual,  perfected  after  the  completion  of  the  Temple.  The 
singers  in  great  part  conducted  the  services ;  then  there 
were  the  porters,  and  the  Nethinim,  a  class  of  men  devoted 
from  their  birth  to  the  service  of  the  Sanctuary.  They 
were  for  the  most  part  descendants  of  "  the  serfs  of  Solo- 
mon," Gibeonites,  and  men  who,  having  been  made  prisoners 
of  war,  were  given  to  God  for  menial  services  in  His  Tem- 
ple,—  to  be  "hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,"  but 
who,  during  many  generations  of  such  service,  had  grown 
happy  in  an  employment  which  gave  them  support,  con- 
sideration, and  ample  leisure. 

These  persons  seem  to  have  made  up  a  little  world 
within  the  courts  of  the  Temple.  It  was  powerful  by  reason 
of  its  official  position,  but  the  larger  part  of  its  members 
were  very  poor.  These  further  increased  the  ancient  order 
of  the  Anavim,  a  term  employed  to  designate  men  poor, 
pious,  and  oppressed  by  their  superiors. 

From  the  ranks  of  the  Anavim  was  recruited  that  body  of 
Jewish  Puritans  called  afterwards  the  Chasidim. 

The  Anavim  are  called  in  the  Psalms  and  in  the  later 
prophetical  books  "the  just,"  "the  upright,"  "the  faithful 
in  the  land,"  "the  meek,"  "the  followers  of  the  perfect 
way;  "  while  those  who  opposed  them  are  "the  scorners," 
"  the  impious,"  "  the  proud,"  "  the  transgressors,"  and 
"  the  ungodly,"  or  sometimes  "  the  rich,"  and  "the  strong," 
—  words  in  that  connection  always  to  be  taken  in  a  sense 
the  reverse  of  complimentary. 

We  ourselves  may  indeed  rejoice  that  out  of  the  poverty 


ZERUBBABEL,    THE  PRINCE   OF  JUDAH.  41 

and  suffering  of  these  poor  men  grew  a  whole  world  of  poetry. 
The  inferior  clergy,  having  no  employment  outside  of  the 
Temple  service  found  frequent  causes  of  complaint  against 
priests  of  the  house  of  Zadok,  who  defrauded  and  op- 
pressed them.  But  their  consolations,  more  than  their 
complaints,  were  dwelt  on  in  the  Psalms  composed  at  this 
period,  which  speak  chiefly  of  their  love  for  God's  House,  of 
delight  in  His  worship,  of  their  sense  of  being  fed  daily 
from  His  hand,  and  of  satisfaction  in  looking  on  themselves, 
poor  though  they  might  be,  as  under  the  especial  protection 
of  the  Ruler  of  Mankind. 

A  large  body  of  singers,  grown  too  numerous  for  the 
service  of  the  Temple,  found  quarters  outside  the  city, 
where  they  lived  in  humble  hamlets,  but  were  not  land- 
owners. Hymns  could  not  fail  to  be  born  among  them, 
trained  as  they  were  to  music  and  to  song. 

The  poems  called  in  the  Psalter  "  Songs  of  Degrees  "  1 
were  probably  composed  at  this  period. 

"  They  are  little  poems, "  says  M.  Renan,  "  perfect  in 
form,  delightful  as  poetry,  having  a  religious  charm  which 
has  made  them  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  pious  in  all  ages. 
They  were  sung  either  in  chorus  or  responsively  in  alternate 
verses,  which  may  account  for  their  repetitions,  the  em- 
ployment of  the  same  words,  the  crossing  and  recrossing  of 
certain  passages,  and  the  apparent  transposition  of  parts  of 
phrases,  all  of  which  things  have  been  observed.  The 
poverty-stricken  artists  who  created  such  gems  of  language 
and  of  feeling  may  surely  be  accounted  the  equals  of  those 
world-famous  Greek  poets  who,  at  about  the  same  period, 
were  composing  the  lyric  treasures  of  Dorian  verse,  —  the 
masterpieces  of  their  nation's  genius  in  poetry." 

After  the  visit  of  Tatnai  and  his  party  to  Jerusalem  we 
hear  nothing  further  of  Zerubbabel.  If  he  retained  the 
official  rank  that  Cyrus  had  bestowed  on  him,  he  seems, 
after  the  first  year  or  two,  to  have  exercised  very  little 

1  Psalms  sung  by  priests  and  singers  stationed  on  the  steps 
which  led  from  the  court  in  which  stood  the  Altar  of  Sacrifice  to  the 
Sanctuary. 


42  JUDEA. 

authority.  We  find  Zerubbabel  always  mentioned  by 
Haggai  in  connection  with  Joshua  the  high-priest,  and  in 
a  way  that  seems  to  acknowledge  him  to  be  the  superior. 
The  prophet  in  his  last  utterances  seems  to  announce  that 
in  the  midst  of  the  overthrow  of  empires  the  royal  line  of 
David  shall  pass  safely  through  the  flood  ;  in  token  of  which 
God  has  set  upon  the  finger  of  Zerubbabel  His  signet  ring, 
denoting  that  he  is  precious  to  Himself.  Jeremiah  had 
prophesied  that  a  branch  should  spring  out  of  the  root  of 
Jesse,  and  this  was  popularly  interpreted  at  this  period  to 
mean  Zerubbabel.  Men  expected  that  he  would  be  the 
Saviour  of  Israel,  would  raise  her  from  the  dust,  and  make 
her  conquer  the  world. 

Yet  suddenly  the  name  of  Zerubbabel  fades  out  of  the 
page  of  history.  We  know  nothing  of  his  fate.  He,  the 
hope  of  Israel  at  one  period  of  his  life,  passes  silently  into 
oblivion.  It  is  possible  that  the  Persians  grew  jealous  of 
the  hopes  his  nation  fixed  on  him.  Josephus  seems  to 
think  that  he  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Babylon  together 
with  three  other  Jews  of  distinction,  —  one  of  them  named 
Mordecai.  Could  Zerubbabel  have  been  detained  in  Baby- 
lonia and  not  suffered  to  return?  Could  Mordecai  be 
the  same  Mordecai  we  find  in  the  next  reign  at  Susa,  the 
royal  city,  in  attendance  on  the  Persian  king?  We  know 
nothing ;  all  is  mystery  that  relates  to  the  Prince  of  Judah's 
fate. 

Some  think  he  may  have  been  the  victim  of  a  sacerdotal 
intrigue ;  that  the  two  parties  that  subsequently  divided  the 
Jewish  nation  into  hostile  camps  may  have  been  already 
formed,  with  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua  for  their  leaders.  We 
know  that  before  long  aristocrats  among  the  priests  (among 
them  the  grandson  of  Joshua)  fraternized  with  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  land  and  made  alliances  with  them,  while  the 
more  pious  party  (probably  that  of  Zerubbabel)  repudiated 
and  condemned  their  proceedings. 

If  the  joint  sovereignty  of  prince  and  pontiff  was  found 
impracticable,  it  was  necessarily  the  prince  who  had  to  give 
way,  as  the  high-priest  was  indispensable.  But  whether 


ZERUBBABEL,    THE  PRINCE   OF  JUDAH         43 

this  revolution  was  effected  by  violence,  by  intrigue,  or  by 
mutual  consent,  we  have  no  means  to  determine. 

It  seems  possible,  from  the  tenor  of  a  parable  that  forms 
part  of  one  of  Zechariah's  visions,  that  Joshua  was  not 
blameless,  though  there  is  evidence  in  one  of  the  Psalms 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  him  l  that  he  was  penitent. 

In  this  vision  Joshua  the  son  of  Josadak  stands  before 
Jehovah  clad  in  filthy  garments.  Satan,  the  Adversary, 
stands  near  to  him.  Jehovah  will  not  hear  the  accusations 
of  Satan,  not  because  Joshua  is  innocent,  but  because  Jeru- 
salem has  been  sufficiently  stricken.  Joshua  is  like  a  brand 
snatched  from  a  great  conflagration.  Jehovah  makes  him 
change  his  filthy  garments  for  priestly  vestments,  a  solemn 
charge  is  given  him,  and  the  promise  is  added  that  some 
day  in  the  future  the  Lord  will  bring  forth  His  servant  the 
Branch. 

"  It  is  very  difficult,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  for  us  to  com- 
prehend what  the  prophet  evidently  did  not  wish  to  reveal 
clearly  to  his  contemporaries." 

Zerubbabel  had  no  successor.  No  other  man  of  his 
nation  took  his  place  as  judge  or  nasi.  The  high-priest 
in  the  colony  assumed  supreme  authority.  Joshua  was 
mysteriously  crowned  by  Zechariah  with  a  circlet  made  of 
gold  sent  from  Babylonia,  but  we  have  no  distinct  account 
of  his  elevation.  He  and  his  successors  were  thenceforth 
accounted  by  their  countrymen  to  be  the  real  governors  of 
Jerusalem.  We  have  lists  of  the  high-priests  from  that 
time  forward, 2  as  there  previously  had  been  lists  of  Judean 
kings.  The  high-priest  ruled  over  the  Holy  City,  and 
priests  became  the  Jewish  aristocracy.  Of  Joshua  and  of 
the  son  who  succeeded  him  no  honorable  deed  and  no 
unworthy  deed  has  been  recorded,  although  we  may  sus- 
pect that  the  conduct  of  the  former  in  relation  to  the 
deposition  of  Zerubbabel  was  not  irreproachable.  In  the 
third  generation  the  high-priests  of  the  house  of  Zadok 
and  their  families  did  little  credit  to  their  exalted  position. 

1  Psalm  cxxxii. 

2  See  such  a  list  in  Dean  Farrar's  "  The  Herocls." 


44  JUDEA. 

They  antagonized  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  the  reformers,  and 
after  them  the  proportion  of  estimable  high-priests  to  the 
unworthy,  down  to  the  days  of  Annas  and  Caiaphas,  was 
very  small. 

After  the  death,  suppression,  or  return  into  exile  of 
Zerubbabel,  the  Princes  of  Judah,  who  had  been  rich  and 
honored  in  Babylonia,  seem  to  have  sunk  into  neglect  and 
obscurity.  We  hear  little  more  of  the  house  of  David  for 
more  than  four  hundred  years,  until  we  discern  its  repre- 
sentatives in  the  lowly  home  and  work-shop  of  the  car- 
penter of  Nazareth. 


CHAPTER   III. 

EZRA   THE    REFORMER. 

A  FTER  the  Temple  was  dedicated  with  great  rejoicing 
^*  in  the  month  of  February,  515,  and  the  Great  Pass- 
over which  followed  had  been  observed  more  fully  than 
any  Passover  had  been  since  the  days  of  King  Josiah,  Judea 
seems  to  pass  out  of  our  sight  until  484  B.C.  —  that  is,  for 
thirty-five  years.  We  have  no  historical  account  of  it, 
either  Scriptural  or  secular,  but  we  may  trace  the  social 
decadence  of  the  repatriated  colony  in  the  admonitions 
and  exhortations  addressed  to  its  people  by  the  prophet 
Joel.  The  date  affixed  to  his  prophecy  in  our  Bibles  is 
800  B.C.,  but  it  is  now  the  opinion  of  critics  that  Joel 
prophesied,  not  eight  hundred  years  before  Christ,  but  three 
hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  —  that  is,  during  this  dark 
period  which  has  been  called  "  the  deep  sleep  of  Israel." 

Whatever  may  be  the  date  we  should  assign  to  Joel's 
prophecy,  we  may  at  least  accept  his  description  of  the 
state  of  the  country  at  the  time  he  wrote,  as  applicable  to 
the  condition  of  his  people  when  their  religious  fervor  had 
subsided,  after  their  great  work  was  accomplished  by  the 
completion  and  dedication  of  the  Temple.  The  state  of 
things  that  Joel  depicts  is  corroborated  by  the  subsequent 
reproaches  of  the  prophet  Malachi  (397  B.C.)  and  by  brief 
passages  in  Nehemiah's  memoirs.  The  country  after  the 
overthrow  of  Zerubbabel  was  ruled  by  Persian  pekahs,  who, 
he  tells  us,  "  laid  burthens  on  the  people,  —  yea,  even  their 
servants,"  he  adds,  "  lorded  it  over  the  people."  The 
"poor  were  oppressed;"  "justice  and  judgment  were  in 
the  hands  of  robbers." 

Nor  was   oppression   the  work  only  of  Persian  officials 


46  JUDEA. 

and  their  immediate  followers.  The  land,  laid  waste  by 
the  march  of  armies,  had  been  afflicted  by  bad  seasons. 
Drought  parched  the  fields,  the  crops  had  failed,  the  herds 
lowed  piteously  in  their  withered  pastures ;  and  the  hostil- 
ity of  surrounding  nations  was  shown  by  continual  raids 
and  plunderings.  Jews  in  these  incursions  were  made 
captive.  Men  and  women  were  sold  to  Syrian  slave- 
dealers,  who  carried  on  a  brisk  slave  trade  with  the  Greeks. 
By  reason  of  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  people,  the  daily 
sacrifices  had  to  be  suspended.  Victims  were  no  longer 
furnished  by  the  Persian  government,  according  to  the 
decree  of  Darius  which  gave  the  priests  authority  to  call 
on  the  treasurer  of  the  satrapy  of  Syria  for  needful  sup- 
plies. Then  too  the  higher  clergy  oppressed  the  Levites, 
withholding  from  them  their  dues ;  and  the  poor  mortgaged 
their  lands  to  the  rich,  who  proved  pitiless  creditors. 
There  was  no  relapse  amongst  this  afflicted  people  into 
idolatry,  but  religious  feeling  was  benumbed  by  disappoint- 
ment and  despair.  "  Why  should  Jehovah  have  cast  off  his 
people,  and  have  given  his  heritage  to  reproach  ? " 
"  Wherefore  should  they  say  among  the  Gentiles,  Where  is 
their  God?"  were  questions  that  must  have  been  in  the 
hearts  if  not  upon  the  lips  of  sufferers  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land. 

But  during  this  dark  period  in  the  history  of  the  people 
to  whom  our  world  was  to  owe  light  and  life,  great  events 
were  passing  in  the  West,  and  writers  of  renown  who  knew 
nothing  of  the  Jews  were  recording  what  they  believed  to 
be  the  most  important  facts  in  the  world's  history. 

The  reign  of  Darius  Hystaspes  was  troubled  for  six 
years  by  revolts  in  his  provinces.  The  leaders  of  each 
rebellion,  when  it  was  put  down,  were  mercilessly  treated. 
In  an  inscription  where  Darius  has  recorded  his  own 
glorious  deeds  we  read  :  "  When  Ormazd  saw  this  earth 
filled  with  revolt  and  civil  war,  then  did  he  intrust  it  to 
me.  He  made  me  king,  and  I  am  king.  By  the  grace  of 
Ormazd  I  have  restored  the  earth.  What  I  ordered  was 
done,  since  it  was  my  will.  If  thou  thinkest  how  numerous 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  47 

were  the  lands  over  which  King  Darius  ruled,  look  on 
the  images  of  those  who  bear  my  throne  and  thou  wilt 
recognize  them.  Thou  wilt  then  know  that  the  spear  of 
the  Persian  reached  afar.  Thou  wilt  then  know  that  the 
Persian  hath  fought  in  battle  far  from  his  Persian  land." 

On  the  great  Rock  of  Behistun  there  is  also  a  procession 
of  ten  prisoners,  the  pretenders  who  disputed  sovereignty 
with  the  great  king.  Over  the  head  of  each  is  his  name, 
and  the  name  of  the  country  of  which  he  pretended  to  be 
king,  with  the  brief  words  in  addition  :  "And  he  lied." 

But  civil  war  made  a  small  part  of  the  military  history  of 
Darius.  After  firmly  seating  himself  on  his  throne  he 
employed  himself  for  seven  years  (513-508  B.C.)  in  reg- 
ulating the  internal  affairs  of  his  vast  empire.  He  had 
three  capitals,  Babylon,  Susa,  and  Ecbatana,  in  each  of  which 
he  passed  a  portion  of  the  year.  Persepolis,  the  ancient 
capital  of  Persia,  he  also  adorned  with  sculptures  of  great 
beauty.1  But  after  this  period  of  his  reign,  in  which  he 
diligently  pursued  the  arts  of  peace,  he  was  seized  by  the 
fever  of  imperial  expansion,  and  engaged  in  a  series  of 
foreign  wars  which  brought  about  the  ruin  of  his  empire. 

He  resolved  to  make  the  Black  Sea  a  Persian  lake. 
Along  its  southern,  or  Asiatic  shores,  he  already  possessed 
all  lands,  but  he  wanted  to  add  those  upon  the  west  and 
north  to  his  dominions.  There  lived  the  Thracians  and 
the  Scythians,  or  Skolotti,  as  they  called  themselves. 
Among  the  sculptures  at  Persepolis  is  one  that  represents 
the  Scythians  in  garments  exactly  resembling  those  worn 
at  the  present  day  by  Russian  moujiks.  The  Scythians 
had  long  maintained  that  their  country  never  could  be 
conquered,  because  no  invader  could  penetrate  their  for- 
ests, or  resist  "feathers  in  the  air"  (the  snow-flakes  of 
their  winters). 

With  a  vast  army,  and  attended  by  a  fleet,  Darius  crossed 

1  Within  a  few  years  Persepolis  has  been  the  scene  of  the  archaeo- 
logical labors  of  a  Frenchman,  M.  Dieulafoy,  and  of  his  wife,  whose 
book  recording  their  achievements  is  profoundly  interesting  and  con- 
tains the  most  beautiful  illustrations. 


48  JUDEA. 

the  Bosphorus.  With  part  of  his  forces  he  invaded  Thrace 
and  reached  the  Danube.  With  the  rest,  under  his  own 
command,  he  attempted  to  subdue  the  Scythians.  We 
know  little  of  the  campaign,  though  a  great  deal  is  said  of 
it  by  Herodotus.  The  Scythians  avoided  a  pitched  battle, 
but,  skirmishing,  led  the  Persian  army  ever  further  and 
further  into  the  interior.  At  last  Darius  found  himself 
obliged  to  retreat,  with  barbarian  hordes  hanging  on  his 
rear.  News  from  the  Greek  cities  on  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor  probably  hastened  his  return.  The  Athenians, 
alarmed  by  the  appearance  of  a  Persian  army  in  Thrace, 
had  endeavored  to  create  a  diversion.  They  sent  Miltiades 
to  Asia  Minor  to  rouse  the  spirit  of  the  Greek  cities  long 
established  there.  Miltiades  had  small  success  in  Miletus, 
the  principal  Greek  city  of  Ionia.  Its  chief  men  told  him 
that  they  were  indebted  to  Darius  for  many  favors,  and  for 
their  municipal  liberty ;  but  the  seeds  of  discontent  and 
disaffection  were  sown,  and  (B.C.  500)  five  years  later,  the 
Greek  cities  of  Ionia  all  broke  into  revolt  against  the 
monarch  of  Persia.  The  Athenians,  who  had  inspired  this 
revolt,  assisted  it.  Darius  suppressed  the  insurrection,  and 
took  due  vengeance  on  the  rebellious  cities,  especially 
Miletus.  Exasperated  by  the  conduct  of  the  Athenians, 
he  sent  a  large  army  and  a  fleet  against  them.  The  army 
was  defeated,  and  the  fleet  dispersed  in  a  great  storm, 
when  rounding  the  Thracian  promontory  of  Mount  Athos. 
A  second  expedition  against  Greece  was  still  more  unfor- 
tunate. His  large  army  was  totally  routed  at  Marathon. 
The  struggle  between  the  civilization  of  the  West  and  the 
orientalism  of  the  East,  begun  in  the  heroic  age  at  the 
siege  of  Troy,  once  more  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  Europe 
over  Asia.  Darius  was  making  immense  preparations  to 
raise  an  army  whose  numbers  Greece  would  be  unable  to 
resist,  and  he  intended  to  take  the  field  in  person,  when 
Egypt  revolted,  and  part  of  his  army  was  sent  thither  to 
restore  order;  that  task  being  accomplished,  it  marched 
into  Cyrene,  and  pushing  on  threatened  Carthage.  The 
Carthaginians,  who  a  few  years  before  had  made  their  first 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER,  49 

treaty  with  Rome  (508  B.C.),  concluded  a  similar  alliance 
with  the  King  of  Persia.  But  Darius,  now  an  old  man,  was 
sinking  under  the  weight  of  cares  and  troubles ;  he  died 
in  485  B.C.  leaving  his  throne  and  the  prosecution  of  his 
projects  to  his  son  Xerxes. 

All  this  is  Grecian  history.  The  Jews,  living  in  an 
obscure  province,  took  at  that  time  little  or  no  part  in  the 
world's  affairs ;  but  I  think  it  is  always  interesting  to  trace 
the  great  world's  progress  side  by  side  with  the  history  of 
the  nation  whose  fate  and  fortunes  are  most  closely  con- 
nected with  our  own. 

In  the  reign  of  Darius  Hystaspes  and  in  the  subse- 
quent reign  of  his  son  Xerxes  (521-465  B.C.)  lived  Mil- 
tiades,  Cimon,  Aristides,  Themistocles,  Leonidas,  and 
Pericles.  During  this  period  of  Jewish  history  the  fight  at 
Thermopylae  took  place,  and  the  battles  of  Marathon  and 
Salamis.  Pindar,  yEschylus,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  Herod- 
otus, Thucydides,  Anaxagoras,  and  Socrates  were  living,  — 
though  all  had  not  attained  their  fame  ;  and  the  battle  of 
the  Lake  Regillus  was  fought  by  Rome  against  the  settlers 
in  Magna  Graecia.  These  great  writers  and  these  great 
events  were  of  no  concern  to  the  Jews,  though  they  power- 
fully affected  the  history  of  the  world. 

Xerxes  (who  is  now  held  to  be  the  Ahasuerus  of  the 
Book  of  Esther)  continued  the  preparations  begun  by  his 
father  for  a  war  against  Greece.  With  this  in  view  he  held 
a  great  feast  in  his  summer  capital  of  Susa  (Shushan)  to 
which  he  summoned  all  the  leading  men  in  Persia,  osten- 
sibly to  ask  them  for  advice,  but  in  reality  to  constrain 
them  to  assist  his  plans  with  men  and  money.  It  was  at 
this  feast,  when  excited  by  wine,  that  he  committed  his 
memorable  breach  of  Persian  propriety,  by  summoning 
Vashti  to  present  herself  to  his  riotous  and  half-drunken 
company. 

We  all  know  the  story  of  Esther.  During  the  delay  that 
occurred  between  the  event  which  displaced  Vashti  and 
admitted  Esther  to  supremacy  in  the  harem,  the  expedition 
that  the  king  led  into  Greece  kept  him  away  from  Susa. 

4 


50  JUDEA. 

Haman,  the  son  of  Hammedatha,  was  probably  a  Persian, 
named  Amana.  His  father's  name  is  Persian,  and  possibly 
when  he  is  called  "the  Agagite  "  it  may  refer  to  the  city 
of  his  birth,  Agbatana. 

The  great  difficulty,  however,  regarding  the  book  of  Esther 
is  that  Herodotus  tells  us  that  the  legitimate  queen  of 
Xerxes  was  his  cousin,  the  princess  Amestris,  who  com- 
pletely ruled  him. 1  She  was  intensely  jealous  of  her  rank 
and  not  disposed  to  forgive  the  conjugal  infidelities  of  her 
voluptuous  husband. 

Possibly  Vashti  and  Esther  were  secondary  wives,  who 
were  invested  with  exceptional  authority  when  out  of  reach 
of  Amestris  in  the  harem  of  Susa.  Xerxes  had  been  nearly 
twenty  years  married  to  Amestris  when  he  returned  from 
his  Grecian  campaign.  About  six  years  later  he  was  mur- 
dered in  his  palace  by  conspirators  instigated,  it  is  thought, 
by  Amestris,  who  felt  herself  outraged  by  the  life  he  was 
leading. 

In  Babylon  of  late  years  numerous  omen-tablets  have 
been  unearthed,  and  are  now  in  the  British  Museum ;  with 
these,  purim,  or  lots,  were  cast  to  determine  lucky  or  un- 
lucky days.  The  process  of  casting  lots  was  prolonged  in 
Haman's  case  a  year.  When  he  had  ascertained  what  day 
would  be  fortunate  for  the  destruction  of  the  Jews,  and  had 
ascertained  by  magic  that  it  would  be  the  last  day  of 
February,  B.  c.  473,  he  opened  the  subject  to  the  king, 
offering  him  a  bribe  of  10,000  silver  talents  (eleven  millions 
of  dollars)  for  an  edict  ordering  the  Jews  to  be  put  to 
death  throughout  the  empire,  —  partly  because  they  had 
different  laws  from  those  of  other  peoples,  and  partly 
because  they  did  not  keep  the  king's  laws.  The  money 
was  of  course  to  be  raised  by  confiscation  of  their  property, 
and  the  expenses  of  the  war  with  Greece  had  made  Xerxes 
most  desirous  to  replenish  his  treasury.  It  was  a  tempting 
bribe  when  offered  to  a  king  in  difficulties.  We  know  how 

1  By  Persian  law  there  were  only  seven  Persian  houses  from 
which  (outside  the  royal  family)  it  was  permissible  for  the  king  to 
take  his  legitimate  queen.  —  Prof.  A.  H.  SAYCE. 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  51 

it  all  ended.     The  Feast  of  Purim  was  established  among 
the  Jews,  and  has  been  kept  up  to  the  present  day. 

Mordecai,  if  he  was  made  vizier  in  the  place  of  Haman, 
probably  held  his  office  only  a  short  time.  At  any  rate  he 
did  nothing  for  his  countrymen,  either  in  Babylonia  or 
Jerusalem,  except  to  save  their  lives.  We  all  know  that 
the  name  of  God  is  not  mentioned  in  the  book  of  Esther, 
neither  is  there  any  allusion  in  it  to  the  Temple  or  to 
Jerusalem.  The  Jews  of  Alexandria  afterwards  interpolated 
a  number  of  passages  in  the  book,  which  gave  it  a  more 
religious  character,  but  they  detract  from  the  beauty  of  the 
narrative.  Saint  Jerome,  in  his  translation  (called  the  Vul- 
gate), restored  these  interpolated  passages,  but  in  unchron- 
ological  order.  We  have  them  printed  by  themselves  in  the 
Apocrypha. 

Meantime  many  priestly  families  and  heads  of  houses, 
who  composed  a  sort  of  council  in  Jerusalem,  felt  com- 
pelled to  take  a  new  and  decisive  step  to  avert,  as  it 
seemed  to  them,  the  loss  of  all  that  had  been  gained  by  the 
Return.  There  seemed  indeed  but  one  way  open  which 
would  at  once  placate  the  Persian  officials  in  Samaria,  pro- 
pitiate their  hostile  neighbors,  and  bring  a  fresh  infusion  of 
wealth  into  the  community. 

Women  were  scarce  in  Judea,  especially  women  of  t^ 
upper  classes ;  it  was  resolved  to  make  alliances  with  the 
daughters  of  great  and  rich  men  of  alien  races.  Their  fore- 
fathers had  never  wholly  approved  the  stern  attitude  taken 
by  Zerubbabel  against  these  people,  who  were  not  idolaters, 
but  imperfectly  instructed  worshippers  of  Jehovah,  men  who 
had  been  willing  and  anxious  to  offer  their  means  and  their 
help  to  build  the  Temple,  and  were  almost  ready  to  crouch 
for  recognition  by  the  ecclesiastical  party  at  Jerusalem. 
The  Zadokites,  in  their  turn,  were  not  unwilling,  when  occa- 
sion served,  to  convert  their  social  influence  into  political 
power.  They  looked  upon  the  policy  which  had  provoked 
the  enmity  of  the  people  of  the  land  as  a  mistake.  The 
colony  had  never  been  left  in  peace,  and  had  never  pros- 
pered since  such  unrighteous  exclusiveness  had  been  main- 


52  JUDEA. 

tained.  The  party  opposed  to  Zerubbabel's  policy  was  after 
sixty  years  disposed  to  offer  to  the  Gentiles  the  fellowship 
formerly  denied  them.  It  was  the  priests  and  rulers  who 
led  the  movement,  and  were  the  first  to  take  what  the 
reformers  called  "  strange  wives." 

The  new  policy  was  acceptable  to  the  majority  of  the 
people,  but  a  considerable  minority  formed  an  opposition, 
maintaining  that  the  prohibition  addressed  to  Israel  at  the 
time  of  the  conquest  of  the  land,  which  forbade  men  to 
espouse  daughters  of  the  heathen  Canaanites,  was  in  force 
for  all  time,  even  when  the  women  and  their  families  had 
ceased  to  be  idolaters,  and  had  become  worshippers  of  the 
same  God  as  the  Jews. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who,  with  the  sanction  of  the 
chief  priests  and  elders,  had  taken  Gentile  women  to  be 
their  wives,  could  point  to  numerous  such  alliances  which 
had  met  with  divine  approval.  Abraham's  second  mar- 
riage, to  say  nothing  of  his  union  with  Hagar,  was  a  case  in 
point.  Joseph  had  married  an  Egyptian  woman,  and  Moses 
a  Midianite.  David's  great-grandmother  was  Ruth  the 
Moabitess,  the  sweetest  female  character  in  Old  Testament 
history ;  he  had  himself  among  his  numerous  wives  several  of 
foreign  lineage.  And  lastly,  one  of  the  most  glowing  and 
triumphant  Psalms  celebrated  the  union  of  King  Solomon 
with  an  Egyptian  princess.  This  marriage  proved  unfortu- 
nate, but  there  is  no  record  that  it  was  opposed  on  relig- 
ious grounds  at  the  time.  The  prophets  had  gloried  in  the 
prospect  that  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  join  them- 
selves to  Israel,  and  that  Jehovah's  Temple  should  be  called 
a  House  of  Prayer  for  all  people.  Was  the  spirit  of  exclu- 
siveness  to  block  the  fulfilment  of  such  prophecies,  and 
make  eternal  the  bitter  enmity  of  Gentile  races  who  dwelt 
within  sight  of  Mount  Moriah  and  the  gleam  of  its  glittering 
Temple  ? 

It  may  be  doubted  if  the  common  people  of  Judea  were 
familiar  with  the  Law.  They  seem  to  have  had  no  schools 
for  instruction,  and  only  the  chief  men  were  acquainted  with 
Hebrew,  the  language  of  Scripture.  The  word  "Torah," 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  53 

which  we  have  translated  "  the  Law,"  does  not  mean  a  strict 
code  of  commandments  and  prohibitions,  but  rather  it  is 
derived  from  a  word  which  means  "  to  guide,"  "  to  point 
out  the  way." 

Meanwhile,  while  in  Judea  the  people  were  perplexed  by 
questions  of  worldly  policy,  interpreted  by  the  most  relig- 
ious men  among  them  to  be  at  variance  with  the  commands 
of  Jehovah,  morality  had  sunk  to  a  low  ebb.  We  may  read 
this  in  the  reproaches  addressed  to  the  people  by  their  later 
prophets,  and  more  especially  to  the  higher  classes,  who 
were  vehemently  accused  by  Nehemiah  of  covetousness  and 
oppression. 

Reform  was  imperatively  needed ;  but  whence  was  a 
reformer  to  come  ?  Not  from  among  the  faithful  in 
Judea ;  political  and  ecclesiastical  interests  would  crush 
him  as  they  had  crushed  Zerubbabel.  Three  things  would 
be  essential  to  a  reformer's  success.  He  must  come  from 
without,  not  from  within  the  Judean  colony ;  he  must 
be  clothed  with  authority  higher  than  that  of  the  ruling 
classes  at  Jerusalem ;  he  must  be  at  once  a  zealot  and 
a  teacher. 

Such  a  man  was  Ezra,  who  was  being  made  ready  for  his 
work  within  the  walls  of  Babylon.  He  had  never  been  in 
Palestine ;  he  had  never  seen  the  Temple.  He  was  of 
priestly  descent,  and  of  the  house  of  Zadok.  His  ancestor 
had  been  the  high-priest  Seraiah,  executed  at  Riblah  by 
Nebuchadnezzar  in  592  B.C.  Seraiah  had  been  grand- 
father to  Joshua  the  son  of  Josadak.  Ezra  was  consequently 
a  near  kinsman  of  the  priests  whose  authority  over  their 
countrymen  he  was  to  supersede  in  Jerusalem.  He  was 
descended  from  that  Hilkiah  who  in  the  reign  of  Josiah 
had  discovered  a  copy  of  the  lost  Book  of  the  Covenant, 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  in  a  chest  in  an  out-house  of  the 
Temple,  when  searching  for  hidden  treasure  that  might  be 
employed  in  repairing  ravages  made  among  the  gold  and 
silver  vessels  used  in  divine  service,  by  foreign  plunderers 
and  a  wicked  king.  No  doubt  this  copy  of  the  Law  had 
been  carefully  preserved  by  the  descendants  of  Hilkiah, 


54  JUDEA. 

and  Ezra  "  the  scribe,  the  priest  of  the  God  of  heaven," 
as  he  was  described  by  his  Babylonian  sovereign,  made  it 
his  earnest  study.  He  became  an  enthusiast  for  the  Law. 
To  transcribe  it,  to  meditate  on  it,  and  to  impart  instruction 
from  it,  became  the  business  of  his  life.  He  was  an  enthu- 
siast by  temperament.  The  precious  Roll  was  not  only  the 
word  of  Jehovah  as  revealed  to  Moses,  but  its  preservation 
was  connected  with  the  history  of  his  family.  In  Babylon 
he  could  exercise  no  priestly  functions,  but  he  became  a 
scribe,  and  of  that  order  among  the  scribes  called  a  sopher, 
or  teacher. 

The  Babylonian  Jews,  having  no  Temple,  supplied  the 
place  of  its  services  by  listening  to  the  exhortations  of  the 
prophets,  by  strictly  keeping  the  Sabbaths  and  the  Holy 
Feasts,  by  attention  to  the  rules  of  diet,  by  avoidance  of 
Gentile  marriages,  keeping  themselves  by  every  means  in 
their  power  a  separate  people.  When  the  prophets  ceased 
to  preach  they  fell  back  on  uninspired  teachers.  It  is 
doubtful  if  they  had  synagogues.  These  seem  to  have  been 
first  established  a  century  after  this  time  in  Alexandria. 
For  sacrifice  they  substituted  prayer  and  obedience  to  the 
Law,  with  which  their  teachers  made  them  well  acquainted. 
There  were  apparently  schools  for  the  training  of  such 
teachers.  Among  them  Ezra  became  a  leading  spirit,  and 
his  heart  was  saddened  by  accounts  that  reached  Babylon 
from  time  to  time  of  the  degeneracy  and  general  wretched- 
ness of  the  colony  at  Jerusalem. 

He  must  have  been  a  full-grown  man  when  the  decree 
of  massacre  went  forth  from  Xerxes  against  the  Jews,  and 
have  shared  in  all  the  emotions  it  excited  among  his 
countrymen.  He  earnestly  desired  to  become  a  missionary 
to  his  own  backsliding  people,  and  while  waiting  until  the 
Lord  should  open  the  way  for  the  fulfilment  of  this  wish, 
he  appears  to  have  gathered  round  him  a  band  of  disciples 
into  whom  he  infused  his  own  spirit. 

In  the  seventh  year  of  Artaxerxes  this  opportunity  came. 
Only  in  Jerusalem  could  Ezra  hope  to  realize  his  ideal  of 
the  Law,  the  whole  Law,  and  nothing  but  the  Law,  and  he 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  55 

earnestly  sought,  and  no  doubt  prayed,  for  the  opportunity 
to  put  his  dreams  into  execution. 

In  465  B.C.  (one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years  after 
the  return  under  Zerubbabel)  Xerxes  (or  Ahasuerus)  was 
slain  by  a  conspiracy  in  his  palace  at  Susa,  and  after  a  period 
of  disorder,  murder,  and  massacre,  his  youngest  son,  Arta- 
xerxes  Longimanus  (he  of  the  long  hand)  succeeded  him. 

Artaxerxes  was  a  prince  of  extraordinary  beauty  of 
person,  though  some  defect  in  his  hands  may  have  given 
him  his  sobriquet.  He  was  disinclined  to  war  or  blood- 
shed ;  was  kindly,  approachable,  and  easily  influenced  by 
those  about  him.  He  had  been  long  a  resident  in  Babylon, 
where  very  probably  he  may  have  been  brought  into  some 
connection  with  the  Jewish  sopher  who  stood  high  in  the 
estimation  of  his  countrymen.  He  may  have  had  Jews  too 
in  his  court,  even  before  Nehemiah  held  office  there.  His 
queen,  Darinaspia,  may  have  looked  favorably  on  the  Jews, 
as  other  royal  ladies  in  imperial  or  royal  houses  did  in  after 
years. 

As  long  as  Xerxes  reigned,  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem  believed 
that  it  was  hopeless  to  induce  the  Persian  court  to  better 
their  condition.  Their  safety  lay  in  being  quite  forgotten. 
But  his  murder,  after  a  reign  of  twenty  years,  brought  hope 
and  change.  They  resolved  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  Persian  authorities  in  Samaria  took  the  alarm, 
and  Rehum,  the  official  correspondent  of  the  king,  wrote 
a  letter,  in  the  Aramaic  language  as  spoken  in  Syria,  to 
Artaxerxes,  pointing  out  that  the  city  whose  walls  the  re- 
turned exiles  were  beginning  to  rebuild,  had  ever  been  a 
rebellious  and  a  bad  city.  If  its  walls  were  set  up,  its  in- 
habitants might  refuse  to  pay  tribute  or  taxes,  which  would 
impair  the  revenues  of  the  local  government.  Artaxerxes 
was  advised  to  search  the  records,  and  assure  himself  that 
Jerusalem  had  always  been  an  unruly  city,  and  hurtful  unto 
kings  and  princes. 

This  letter  was  answered  by  a  decree  from  the  new  king 
that  the  rebuilding  of  the  walls  should  be  stopped.  Mean- 
time troubles  in  Egypt  seemed  to  require  the  presence  of 


56  JUDEA. 

the  Persian  armies.  This  revolt  had  been  fostered  and 
assisted  by  the  Athenians.  For  political  reasons  Artaxerxes 
and  his  councillors  decided  to  strengthen  the  feeble  colony 
which  had  been  set  up  by  Cyrus,  and  patronized  by  Darius. 
The  king  thought  if  he  issued  a  proclamation  authorizing 
all  th.e  Jews  throughout  his  empire  to  return  to  their  own 
land,  the  response  would  be  general.  Ezra,  it  is  probable, 
he  knew  already,  and  respected.  He  sent  for  him  and 
learned  his  views.  The  result  was  that  he  acknowledged 
Ezra  as  an  especial  teacher  of  the  Law  of  his  God  in  Judea, 
and  he  gave  him  authority  to  go  to  Judea  with  the  Law  of 
his  God  in  his  hand,  to  make  it  the  law  of  the  land,  to 
govern  the  country  according  to  that  Law,  to  set  up  judges 
and  magistrates  who  would  enforce  it,  and  to  establish 
schools  and  teachers  in  towns  and  rural  districts  through- 
out Judea.  Besides  this,  the  king  sought  to  propitiate  the 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  (and  possibly  the  God  they  wor- 
shipped) by  gifts  of  immense  value  to  the  Temple.  The 
treasurers  of  the  Syrian  satrapy  were  enjoined  to  furnish 
speedily  whatever  Ezra,  the  scribe,  the  priest  of  the  God  of 
heaven,  should  require,  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred  talents 
of  silver  (more  than  one  million  dollars),  and  wheat,  oil, 
wine,  and  salt  in  proportion.  To  this  order  was  added  the 
remarkable  words  :  "  and  whatsoever  is  commanded  by  the 
God  of  heaven,  let  it  be  diligently  done  for  the  house  of 
the  God  of  heaven ;  for  why  should  there  be  wrath  against 
the  realm  of  the  king  and  his  sons?"  Besides  this,  the 
priests,  Levites,  and  singers  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
Temple  were  exempted  from  all  tribute  and  taxation. 

As  leader  of  this  second  Return,  Artaxerxes  chose  Ezra, 
who  he  was  confident  would  be  faithful  to  him  in  all  things, 
and  who  he  found  had  already  arranged  a  plan  for  settling 
the  affairs  of  Judea.  The  king  also  persuaded  his  council, 
and  the  rich  Babylonians,  Jewish  and  Gentile,  to  assist  his 
purpose  of  raising  Judea  and  its  inhabitants  from  the  decay 
into  which  they  had  fallen,  by  subscribing  immense  sums 
to  put  the  affairs  of  the  colony  on  a  basis  of  financial 
prosperity. 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  57 

Well  might  Ezra  have  felt  anxious  concerning  the  safety 
of  this  treasure  while  conveying  it  across  the  great  desert 
between  the  Euphrates  and  Ccele- Syria,  but  he  declined  a 
Persian  escort,  being  ashamed,  he  tells  us,  to  "  require  of 
the  king  an  escort  of  soldiers  and  horsemen,"  for  he  had 
told  him  that  "  the  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them  for 
good  that  seek  Him,  but  His  power  and  His  wrath  is 
against  all  them  that  forsake  Him."  All  this  must  have 
further  strengthened  the  good  opinion  of  Artaxerxes,  and 
have  been  a  proof  of  Ezra's  sincere  and  practical  reliance 
on  the  care  and  protection  of  his  God. 

When  the  troop  of  pilgrims  assembled  at  the  trysting- 
place,  it  was  found  that  the  expectations  of  Artaxerxes  had 
been  by  no  means  realized,  and  even  from  the  number 
that  presented  themselves  some  families  were  weeded  out 
by  the  careful  hand  of  Ezra,  who,  looking  on  this  Return 
as  a  missionary  enterprise,  was  resolved  to  take  with  him 
no  followers  except  such  as  could  bring  with  them  clear 
records  of  untainted  Jewish  blood. 

If  Artaxerxes  had  reason  to  be  disappointed  in  the  num- 
bers attracted  by  his  generosity  (there  were  only -1600 
fighting-men  among  them),  Ezra  was  mortified  to  find  so 
few  priests,  and  absolutely  no  Levites.  He  halted  for  three 
days,  and  sent  a  deputation  to  Casaiphia,  which  seems  to 
have  been  a  suburb  of  Babylon  containing  a  college  of 
Levites,  who  were  receiving  instruction  in  the  Torah  under 
a  president  whose  name  was  Iddo.  The  commissioners 
succeeded  in  bringing  back  thirty-eight  Levites,  among 
them  a  teacher  of  some  authority  among  his  countrymen, 
and  two  hundred  and  twenty  Nethinim,  who  were  more 
ready  to  return  to  their  service  in  the  Temple  than  their 
superiors. 

A  fast  was  then  held  to  entreat  the  protection  of  Jehovah 
on  their  dangerous  journey,  after  which  they  set  forth,  about 
six  thousand  souls. 

The  way  was  long ;  they  hardly  made  more  than  eight 
miles  a  day,  and  Ezra  had  to  make  many  detours  to 
deliver  his  credentials  and  the  king's  letters  of  instruc- 


58  JUDEA. 

tion  to  Syrian  pekahs  and  treasurers  in  provinces  and 
cities.1 

At  last  they  reached  Jerusalem,  and  Ezra  for  the  first 
months  of  his  stay  became  the  guest  of  his  kinsman  Johanan, 
the  high-priest's  son.  Apparently  Johanan  tried  to  keep 
from  him  a  full  knowledge  of  the  state  of  affairs. 

Ezra  had  obtained  from  the  Persian  rulers  precisely  the 
powers  he  could  have  wished ;  most  probably  he  himself 
dictated  them.  He  came  to  Judea  with  authority  to  ad- 
minister the  Law  as  contained  in  the  Mosaic  code  —  "  the 
law  of  his  God  that  was  in  his  hand ;  "  and  as  he  had 
no  hesitation  in  interpreting  that  law  after  the  strictest 
fashion,  he  found  himself  with  power  to  regulate  the  whole 
life  of  the  colony,  domestic,  civil,  social,  and  ecclesiastical ; 
and  with  authority  to  punish  those  who  resisted  him  with 
confiscation  of  goods,  outlawry,  and  even  death. 

Zealous  and  impetuous  as  he  was  by  nature,  he  however 
took  some  time  to  look  about  him.  His  authority  was  not 
rejected  by  the  rulers,  civil  and  clerical,  who  for  many  years 
had  governed  Judea.  He  proclaimed  a  feast  a  week 
after  his  arrival,  and  made  sacrifices  for  sin,  and  thank- 
offerings  in  such  abundance  that  the  like  had  not  been 
seen  since  the  great  days  of  rejoicing  under  Josiah. 

Ezra  had  taken  care,  in  his  order  of  march  upon  the 
journey  (when  the  people  were  divided  into  twelve  bands, 
each  under  a  leader),  to  put  forward  on  every  occasion  his 
fixed  idea  that  the  returned  exiles  were  to  be  considered  as 
representing  all  Israel.  They  were  not  the  remnant  of  two 
tribes  restored  to  their  native  country,  but  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple,—  the  chosen  of  God,  —  the  inheritors  of  His  promises. 
The  wealth  Ezra  had  brought  with  him,  the  hopes  of  court 
favor  that  his  arrival  kindled,  and  his  apparent  moderation 
in  the  first  months  of  his  rule,  notwithstanding  the  despotic 

1  May  I  be  excused  for  rambling  out  of  the  path  of  history,  and 
pointing  out  that  Ezra  vii.  21,  which  contains  part  of  the  instruc- 
tions sent  to  the  treasurers  "beyond  the  river,"  has  in  it  all  the  let- 
ters of  the  alphabet,  except  j — for  which  *  in  old  times  was  the 
equivalent. 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  59 

powers  with  which  he  was  invested,  caused  him  to  be 
peaceably  accepted  as  the  chief  director  of  Jewish  affairs. 
Meantime  the  adherents  who  had  come  with  him  from 
Babylon  were  doing  missionary  work  among  their  country- 
men, and  stirring  up  opposition  to  the  aristocratic  party. 
It  was,  however,  not  until  he  had  been  some  months  in 
Jerusalem  that  he  was  made  fully  aware  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  policy  of  mixed  marriages  had,  as  he  conceived, 
corrupted  the  nation. 

Then,  on  a  day  of  especial  solemnity,  he  was  waited  on 
in  the  Temple  by  a  deputation  from  the  party  faithful  to  old 
traditions.  Their  report  overwhelmed  him.  He  tore  his 
clothes,  plucked  out  his  beard  and  hair,  and  sank  down 
upon  the  pavement,  probably  in  an  epileptic  fit,  in  which 
he  lay  until  the  hour  of  evening  sacrifice,  with  his  adherents 
standing  round  him.  Then  he  rose,  and  going  into  the 
outer  court,  where  he  could  be  seen  by  all  the  people,  he 
fell  upon  his  knees,  stretched  forth  his  hands,  and  poured 
out  his  soul  in  prayer  with  a  fervency  that  moved  the  hearts 
of  those  who  heard  him.  As  he  paused,  a  voice  in  the 
crowd  cried  :  "  We  have  trespassed  against  our  God,  and 
have  taken  strange  wives  of  the  people  of  the  land ;  yet 
now  there  is  hope  in  Israel  concerning  this  thing.  Now 
therefore  let  us  make  a  covenant  with  our  God  to  put 
away  all  the  wives,  and  such  as  are  born  of  them,  accord- 
ing to  the  counsel  of  my  lord,  and  of  those  that  tremble  at 
the  commandment  of  our  God ;  and  let  it  be  done  accord- 
ing to  the  law."  Then,  turning  to  Ezra,  he  added  :  "  Arise, 
for  this  matter  belongeth  unto  thee ;  we  also  will  be  with 
thee.  Be  of  good  courage  and  do  it !  "  The  voice  was 
that  of  Shechaniah,  who  may  have  been  inspired  for  family 
reasons  with  a  detestation  of  foreign  wives  ;  for  both  him- 
self and  his  father,  Jehiel,  were  among  the  offenders. 

Moses  had  indeed  commanded  his  people  not  to  make 
marriages  with  Canaanite  idolaters,  but  neither  by  precept 
nor  example  did  he  set  his  face  against  marriage  with  true 
converts  to  the  Jewish  faith,  although  of  foreign  lineage. 
Neither  is  there  any  word  of  his  that  would  command  or 


60  JUDEA. 

justify  the  breaking  of  the  marriage  tie  for  such  a  cause,  or 
putting  away  children  born  of  such  a  marriage. 

As  this  is  a  subject  involving  Jewish  feeling,  it  may  be 
best  to  quote  here  what  is  said  by  Graetz  in  his  "  History  of 
the  Jews  "  :  — 

"When  Shechaniah  had  spoken,  Ezra  seized  on  the 
idea  at  once ;  he  rose  and  demanded  that  the  heads  of 
families  who  were  present  on  this  occasion  should  swear 
before  the  Sanctuary  and  by  their  God  that  they  would 
repudiate  their  foreign  wives  and  their  children.  That 
moment  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  the  Judean  people. 
Ezra,  and  those  who  thought  as  he  did,  raised  a  wall  of 
separation  between  the  Judeans  and  the  rest  of  the  world. 
But  this  exclusiveness  was  not  strictly  in  agreement  with 
the  letter  of  the  Law,  for  Ezra  himself,  with  all  his  knowl- 
edge, was  not  able  to  point  out  any  passage  in  the  Torah 
implying  that  mixed  marriages  were  forbidden  when  con- 
tracted with  those  who  acknowledged  the  God  of  Israel. 
Such  members  of  the  community  as  in  a  moment  of  enthu- 
siasm had  taken  this  vow  were  now  obliged  to  keep  it. 
With  bleeding  hearts  they  separated  themselves  from  their 
wives,  the  daughters  of  neighboring  tribes,  and  repudiated 
their  own  children.  The  sons  and  relations  of  the  high- 
priest  were  forced  to  set  an  example  to  the  rest." 

The  party  of  Ezra  formed  from  its  most  ardent  members 
a  kind  of  senate,  and  sent  forth  a  proclamation  command- 
ing all  Jews  throughout  the  land  who  had  been  guilty  of 
contracting  mixed  marriages  to  repair  at  once  to  Jerusalem, 
where  a  court  of  inquiry  into  the  matter  was  to  be  held ; 
the  judges  being  appointed  and  presided  over  by  Ezra. 

Bitterly  was  this  action  resented  by  the  people  and  the 
chiefs  of  neighboring  nations.  Not  only  did  their  hearts 
burn  within  them  at  the  wrongs  suffered  by  the  repudiated 
wives  and  fatherless  children,  but  they  saw  in  it  their  own 
separation  from  the  Sanctuary  at  Jerusalem,  to  which  they 
had  belonged.  Two  men  of  great  influence  and  wealth 
felt  the  wrong  done  them  most  strongly,  —  Sanballat,  a  Sa- 
maritan, to  whom  had  been  committed  Persian  authority  in 


EZRA    THE  REFORMER.  6 1 

Samaria,  and  Tobijah  the  Ammonite.  Both  were  connected 
by  marriage  with  several  Jewish  families ;  both  had  accepted 
Judean  teaching.  Their  hatred,  thus  provoked,  was  bitter 
and  enduring.  So  long  as  they  lived  their  enmity  was  kept 
alive.  For  a  few  years  indeed  it  slumbered,  but  meantime 
they  attacked  Jerusalem,  tore  down  the  unfinished  wall,  and 
burnt  the  gates,  defying  the  mandate  of  the  Persian  king ; 
for  the  satrap  of  Syria,  their  official  superior,  was  in  open 
and  apparently  successful  revolt.  The  party  opposed  to 
reform  took  courage.  Ezra  was  set  aside.  All  things  in 
Jerusalem  fell  again  into  confusion  ;  many  of  its  inhabitants 
quitted  it, —  many  took  back  their  repudiated  wives.  Even 
the  Temple  services  were  irregularly  performed.  What  be- 
came of  the  wealth  Artaxerxes  had  intrusted  to  Ezra,  we 
do  not  know.  The  community  seems  to  have  sunk  again 
into  poverty. 

"  For  a  short  time,  "  says  Graetz,  "  it  seemed  as  if  Ezra's 
great  work  was  frustrated,  and  as  if  the  life  of  the  com- 
monwealth were  endangered.  How  little  was  lacking  to 
effect  a  complete  dissolution  !  " 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF   NEHEMIAH. 

"DEFORE  entering  on  the  story  of  Nehemiah,  it  may  be 
-*-^  well  to  say  a  few  words  respecting  the  books  that  in 
our  Bibles  bear  his  name,  and  that  of  Ezra. 

In  the  canon  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  these  books  formed 
but  one,  under  the  name  of  Ezra.  It  was  Origen,  in  the 
third  century  of  the  Christian  era,  who  divided  the  roll 
into  two  parts,  which  he  called  the  First  and  Second  Books 
of  Esdras.1  We  have  also  two  apocryphal  books  of 
Esdras,  the  first  of  which  seems  to  contain  some  passages 
dropped  from  the  canonical  Book  of  Ezra.  This  book  is 
partly  compiled  from  archives  and  national  records,  and 
part  of  it  is  the  writer's  account  of  his  mission  from  Arta- 
xerxes,  and  his  eight  months'  work  in  Jerusalem  in  the  year 
458  B.C.  The  personal  narrative  begins  at  the  twenty- 
seventh  verse  of  the  seventh  chapter,  and  continues,  with  a 
few  slight  breaks,  to  the  close  of  the  tenth  chapter. 

The  book  begins  by  an  account  of  the  mission  of  Zerub- 
babel,  eighty  years  before  that  of  Ezra.  The  mission  of 
Zerubbabel  was  in  the  reign  of  Cyrus,  that  of  Ezra  in  the 
reign  of  Artaxerxes.  Then  follows  the  Roll  of  the  Con- 
gregation, that  is,  a  list  of  the  families  who  shared  in  the  first 
Return.  This  list  was  an  invaluable  record  to  the  families 
whose  names  appeared  in  it,  as  it  conferred  aristocratic 
rank  in  the  community.  The  arrival  at  Jerusalem  of  these 
Children  of  the  Captivity,  as  they  called  themselves,  is  re- 
lated in  the  third  and  part  of  the  fourth  chapters.  Then 
there  is  a  lapse  in  the  narrative  after  verse  6  of  chapter  iv. 

1  Esdras,  it  may  be  well  to  remember,  is  the  name  used  by  the 
French  for  Ezra,  and  also  in  other  languages  derived  from  Latin. 
See  Sayce,  "  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Esther." 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAH.          63 

It  is  resumed  after  the  death  of  Xerxes  (465  B.C.),  when 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  had  begun  to  rebuild  the  walls 
of  their  city,  and  the  surrounding  nations  stirred  up  the 
Persian  officials  in  Samaria  to  send  a  remonstrance  to 
the  new  king,  Artaxerxes.  The  last  verse  of  the  chapter 
has  reference  to  an  earlier  matter,  the  suspension  of  work 
on  the  Temple  in  B.C.  521,  which  occurred  in  the  second 
year  of  Darius  Hystaspes.  In  chapter  v.  the  remonstrance 
sent  to  Darius  by  Tatnai,  governor  of  the  provinces  west  of 
the  Euphrates  and  by  Shethar-boznai  his  secretary,  is  tran- 
scribed. Also  in  chapter  vi.  we  have  the  answer  sent  by 
Darius,  quoting  and  reaffirming  the  decree  made  by  Cyrus 
in  favor  of  the  Jews,  and  enjoining  Tatnai  and  his  asso- 
ciates to  let  the  work  of  the  House  of  God  alone.  It  also 
granted  privileges  to  the  Jews  and  provided  funds  to  keep 
up  the  daily  sacrifices  to  Jehovah.  The  next  record  tells  of 
the  completion  of  the  Temple  (515)  and  of  its  dedication. 

For  a  continuous  narrative  of  what  took  place  fifty  years 
later  we  must  go  back  to  verse  seven  of  the  fourth  chapter 
and  read  to  the  end. 

Chapter  vii.  contains  an  account  of  the  mission  of  Ezra,  and 
a  copy  of  the  credentials  given  him  to  be  shown  to  all  pe- 
kahs  and  other  Persian  officials  on  his  journey  through  Syria. 

Chapter  viii.  contains  another  muster-roll  of  those  who 
accompanied  Ezra,  a  list  of  the  vessels  of  gold  and  silver 
which  he  brought  with  him  from  Babylonia,  and  a  brief 
account  of  his  journey. 

Chapter  ix.  contains  Ezra's  prayer  after  he  had  fallen  on 
the  pavement  of  the  Temple  on  suddenly  hearing  a  reliable 
account  of  the  real  state  of  affairs. 

Chapter  x.  tells  what  he  did  to  remedy  that  most  crying 
of  all  evils,  in  his  eyes,  the  contraction  of  mixed  marriages, 
together  with  a  list  of  those  in  priestly  or  in  princely 
families  who  had  taken  "  strange  wives."  Here  the  nar- 
rative breaks  off,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  Ezra  until,  thirteen 
years  later,  we  find  him  in  official  partnership  with  Nehe- 
miah  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  book  that  bears 
Nehemiah's  name. 


64  JUDEA. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  book  called  Ezra  in  our 
Bibles  is  rather  memoires  pour  setvir  than  a  continuous 
narrative. 

In  the  year  446  B.C.  Hanani,  a  pious  Jew  and  a  kinsman 
of  Nehemiah,  with  a  party  of  other  Jews,  arrived  at  Susa. 
Tradition  says  that  Nehemiah  met  them  in  the  street,  and, 
delighted  to  hear  them  conversing  in  his  own  language, 
asked  them  what  they  could  tell  him  concerning  their 
countrymen  who  had  returned  to  Judea  under  Zerubbabel. 
Nothing  could  be  more  disastrous  than  their  account.  The 
walls  of  the  city,  though  begun,  had  been  thrown  down 
and  were  still  unbuilt ;  Ezra  had  lost  his  power ;  the  people 
were  "  in  great  affliction  and  reproach ;  "  Arabs  pitched 
their  black  tents  close  to  Jerusalem ;  Sanballat  and  his 
allies  were  all-powerful  and  triumphant ;  and  priests  and 
laymen  alike  had  taken  back  their  foreign  wives. 

In  the  palace  at  Shushan  (the  Hebrew  name  for  Susa) 
Nehemiah  was  the  king's  cup-bearer.  This  office  was  one 
coveted  by  the  sons  of  Persian  nobles,  as  it  was  part  of 
the  office  of  a  cup-bearer  to  say  who  could  be  admitted 
to  an  audience  with  the  sovereign ;  it  also  gave  the  man 
who  held  it  opportunities  of  personal  intercourse  with  the 
king. 

No  doubt  when  Hanani  told  his  sad  story  to  Nehemiah 
he  did  not  omit  to  dwell  upon  the  scoffs  and  jeers  of  the 
nations  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jerusalem  when  they  passed 
by  its  broken  walls. 

Deeply  afflicted,  Nehemiah  fasted  and  prayed,  com- 
mending himself  and  his  people  to  the  care  of  the  God  of 
heaven,  and  then,  having  committed  their  cause  into  God's 
hands,  he  waited  patiently  and  prayerfully  until  God  should 
make  His  will  known  to  him.  He  was  apparently  not  on 
service  in  the  palace  at  that  moment ;  he  had  to  wait  five 
months.  Then  came  a  day  when  he  served  wine  to  the 
king,  and  the  kindly  Artaxerxes,  seeing  that  his  faithful 
servant  looked  sad,  asked  him  the  cause.  With  a  brief 
ejaculatory  prayer  before  he  answered,  Nehemiah  told  his 
grief,  and  at  once  Artaxerxes  heard  and  granted  his  peti- 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAH.          65 

tion  that  he  might  be  sent  to  Jerusalem  to  remedy  the 
deplorable  state  of  affairs  among  his  countrymen. 

At  once  he  was  appointed  Persian  pekah  of  Judea,  with 
permission  to  rebuild  the  wall  of  Jerusalem,  and  with  an 
order  on  those  who  had  control  of  the  king's  forests  to 
furnish  timber  for  the  gates. 

At  once,  with  a  considerable  retinue  to  support  his  dig- 
nity (for  that  was  a  matter  Nehemiah  never  suffered  him- 
self to  forget) ,  and  with  an  escort  of  Persian  cavalry,  he  set 
out  for  his  government.  Artaxerxes  had  made  but  one 
condition,  namely,  that  his  stay  in  Jerusalem  should  not  be 
permanent,  but  that  when  he  had  restored  order  in  his 
district  he  should  return  to  his  position  in  the  royal  house- 
hold. 

When  Sanballat  and  Tobijah  heard  of  his  coming  they 
were  full  of  apprehension.  Their  hearts  warned  them  that 
trouble  was  at  hand. 

Nehemiah  reached  Jerusalem  safely,  after  what  was  in 
those  days  a  rapid  journey. 

He  did  not  at  once  explain  the  object  of  his  mission  to 
the  chief  men — priests  and  elders.  Nor  had  he  incau- 
tiously communicated  it  to  his  immediate  followers.  But 
on  the  third  night  after  his  arrival  he  set  forth  with  only 
two  or  three  attendants  to  judge  for  himself  of  the  desola- 
tion of  Jerusalem.  His  own  account  of  this  adventure  is 
touching  in  the  extreme.  I  make  no  apology  for  reporting 
it  from  the  Revised  Version  :  — 

"  So  I  came  to  Jerusalem,  and  was  there  three  days.  And  I 
arose  in  the  night,  I  and  some  few  men  with  me ;  neither  told  I 
any  man  what  my  God  had  put  into  my  heart  to  do  for  Jerusa- 
lem, neither  was  there  any  beast  with  me  save  the  beast  that  I 
rode  upon.  And  I  went  out  by  night  by  the  Valley  Gate,  even 
toward  the  Dragon's  Well,  and  to  the  Dung  Gate,  and  viewed 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  which  were  broken  down,  and  the  gates 
thereof  were  consumed  with  fire.  Then  I  went  on  to  the  Foun- 
tain Gate  and  to  the  King's  Pool,  but  there  was  no  place  for 
the  beast  that  was  under  me  to  pass.  Then  went  I  up  in  the 
night  by  the  brook,  and  viewed  the  wall ;  and  I  turned  back  and 
entered  by  the  Valley  Gate,  and  so  returned.  And  the  rulers 


66  JUDEA. 

knew  not  whither  I  went  or  what  I  did ;  neither  had  I  as  yet 
told  it  to  the  Jews,  nor  to  the  priests,  nor  to  the  nobles,  nor  to 
the  rulers,  nor  to  the  rest  that  did  the  work.  Then  said  I  unto 
them  :  Ye  see  the  evil  case  that  we  are  in,  how  Jerusalem  lieth 
waste,  and  the  gates  thereof  are  burned  with  fire  :  come,  and  let 
us  build  up  the  wall  of  Jerusalem,  that  we  be  no  more  a  reproach. 
And  I  told  them  of  the  hand  of  my  God  which  was  good  upon  me; 
as  also  of  the  king's  words  that  he  had  spoken  unto  me.  And 
they  said,  Let  us  rise  up  and  build.  So  they  strengthened 
their  hands  for  the  good  work." 

The  mission  of  Nehemiah  could  not  fail  to  be  unwelcome 
to  the  repudiated  proselytes  headed  by  Sanballat  and 
Tobijah,  especially  as  he  lost  no  time  in  saying  to  them  : 
"  Ye  shall  have  no  part,  no  right,  no  memorial  in  Jerusalem." 

In  return  these  men  took  up  his  challenge,  and  became 
open  enemies  of  the  Jewish  people,  though  they  kept  up 
constant  communication  with  their  kinsfolk  by  marriage 
among  the  aristocracy  of  Jerusalem,  endeavoring  to  injure 
Nehemiah  by  throwing  suspicion  on  his  fidelity  to  Arta- 
xerxes,  reports  which  they  doubtless  hoped  would  reach 
Susa  and  find  their  way  to  the  ear  of  the  Persian  monarch ; 
meantime  they  discouraged  the  workmen,  who  feared  that 
by  obeying  Nehemiah  they  might  draw  on  themselves  the 
displeasure  of  the  great  king. 

Nevertheless,  Nehemiah  persevered  in  his  work.  Diffi- 
culties acted  on  him  as  a  stimulus.  The  wall  was  speedily 
completed.  Dreading  an  attack  from  the  people  of  the 
land,  led  by  Sanballat  and  Tobijah,  he  caused  his  workmen 
to  labor  with  swords  at  their  sides  and  their  spears  near  at 
hand.  A  strict  guard  was  kept  up  day  and  night ;  and 
Nehemiah  himself,  accompanied  always  by  a  trumpeter,  was 
unceasingly  upon  the  spot  in  case  of  sudden  alarm. 

Discouraged  by  this  unlooked-for  energy,  Sanballat  next 
tried  to  entice  his  enemy  into  his  power.  He  sent  four 
times  messengers  to  the  new  pekah,  inviting  him  to  meet 
him  in  conference  about  thirty  miles  from  Jerusalem,  but 
Nehemiah's  only  answer  was:  "I  am  doing  a  great  work 
and  I  cannot  come  down." 

Then  Sanballat  wrote  him  a  letter.     In  it  he  warned  him 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAH.         6/ 

that  it  was  reported  that  he  had  hired  prophets  to  proclaim 
him  king,  and  that  it  would  be  well  to  hold  a  friendly  con- 
ference with  neighboring  men  of  influence  to  determine 
how  best  to  contradict  the  slander.  This  letter  likewise 
Nehemiah  treated  with  contempt,  turning  to  God  in  his 
trouble  with  an  ejaculatory  prayer. 

Shortly  after  this  a  false  friend  was  employed  to  entrap 
him  by  revealing  a  conspiracy  against  his  life  and  urging 
him  to  take  refuge  in  the  Sanctuary.  But  Nehemiah  an- 
swered :  "  Should  such  a  man  as  I  flee  ?  And  who  is  there 
that  being  as  I  am  would  go  into  the  Temple  to  save  his 
life?  I  will  not  go  in."  By  this  he  meant  that  being  a 
layman  he  would  outrage  law  and  custom  by  entering  the 
Holy  Place,  reserved  for  priests  alone.  Soon  after  this  he 
discovered  that  Sanballat  and  Tobijah  had  hired  this  false 
friend  to  induce  him  to  take  a  step  which  would  have 
brought  reproach  upon  him. 

As  soon  as  the  wall  was  well  under  way  Nehemiah 
called  an  assembly  of  the  chief  men  in  Jerusalem.  The 
subject  uppermost  in  his  mind  was  not  that  of  "mixed 
marriages,"  as  it  was  with  Ezra,  but  justice  to  the  Levites, 
and  fair  dealing,  joined  with  consideration,  in  what  con- 
cerned the  poor. 

Ezra  was  by  nature  an  aristocrat,  and  aristocrats,  apart 
from  any  other  bearings  of  a  question,  have  always  great 
interest  in  purity  of  descent.  Nehemiah  was  a  man  of  the 
people,  bourgeois  by  nature,  in  spite  of  his  court  training 
at  Susa ;  sometimes  I  have  thought  him  not  unlike  Scott's 
Baillie  Nicol  Jarvie  in  his  simplicity,  his  downrightness,  his 
goodness  of  heart,  his  talent  for  business,  his  self-impor- 
tance, his  solicitude  for  his  own  dignity,  his  little  vanities, 
his  want  of  tact,  his  unconscious  absence  of  consideration 
for  the  feelings  of  others.  He  was  a  rich  burgher,  with  a 
secret  feeling  of  pity  for  the  poor,  a  keen  sense  of  the  value 
of  wealth,  and  a  slight  prejudice  in  his  heart  against  the 
aristocratic  and  exclusive  classes  in  Jerusalem. 

The  Jewish  poor  in  the  surrounding  country  had  in  their 
late  days  of  poverty  and  distress  mortgaged  their  little 


68  JUDEA, 

holdings  to  the  rich  in  order  to  pay  their  taxes  to  the 
government,  to  meet  the  exactions  of  the  Persian  pekah 
(or  his  deputy),  or  to  provide  their  families  with  support. 
As  these  debts  became  due,  the  holders  of  the  mortgaged 
property  would  show  no  mercy.  Sometimes  the  poor  man 
mortgaged  the  services  of  his  children  as  well  as  his  little 
holding  of  land.  Many  complaints  of  cruel  usage  in  this 
connection  reached  the  ears  of  Nehemiah.  As  he  had  not 
yet  spoken  on  the  crucial  question  of  mixed  marriages, 
he  retained  some  influence  over  the  upper  classes.  The 
high-priest,  Eliashib,  himself  had  lent  his  assistance  to  the 
building  of  the  wall.  And  Nehemiah  had  no  difficulty  in 
gathering  together  an  audience  of  leading  men,  both  lay 
and  clerical.  When  they  met,  he  thus  addressed  them  : 
"  Ye  exact  usury,  every  one  of  his  brother.  We  (of  Baby- 
lon), after  our  ability,  have  redeemed  our  brethren  the 
Jews,  which  were  sold  unto  the  heathen ;  and  would  ye 
even  sell  your  brethren,  and  should  they  be  resold  unto 
us?  "  As  he  paused,  they  sat  conscience-stricken  and  found 
nothing  to  answer  him.  Then  he  went  on  :  — 

"  If  that  ye  do  the  thing  that  is  not  good,  ought  ye  not 
to  walk  in  the  fear  of  our  God,  because  of  the  reproach 
of  the  heathen  our  enemies?  And  I  likewise  also,  and  my 
brethren  and  my  servants,  do  lend  money  and  corn  on 
usury.  I  pray  you  let  us  leave  off  this  usury.  Restore,  I 
pray  you,  to  them,  even  this  day,  their  fields,  their  vine- 
yards, their  olive-yards,  and  their  houses ;  also  the  hun- 
dredth part  of  the  money,  and  of  the  corn,  the  wine,  and 
the  oil,  that  ye  exact  of  them." 

"We  will  do  even  as  thou  sayest,"  was  the  reply. 

But  Nehemiah  was  not  satisfied  with  a  mere  promise. 
Promises  had  failed  before  in  the  days  of  Ezra.  He  called 
upon  priests  to  administer  to  all  present  an  oath,  and 
shaking  out  his  lap  he  cried  :  "  So  God  shake  out  every 
man  from  his  house  and  from  his  labor  that  performeth 
not  this  promise.  Even  thus  be  he  shaken  out  and 
emptied." 

Nehemiah's  training   at  the  court  of  Persia  had  taught 


THE   ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAH.         69 

him  the  supreme  value  of  truth.  There  was  nothing  so 
hateful  in  the  eyes  of  a  Persian  of  that  day  as  a  lie.i  The 
straightforwardness  and  simplicity  of  Nehemiah's  address 
is  in  great  contrast  to  the  impassioned  and  dramatic  plead- 
ings of  Ezra.  Besides  this,  he  was  known  to  be  a  favorite 
of  the  great  king  at  Susa,  and  his  authority  was  better 
understood  and  recognized  than  that  of  the  man  who  had 
come  to  fill  a  new  office,  that  of  chief-justice  or  supreme 
judge. 

Besides  freeing  his  creditors  with  the  rest,  Nehemiah  set 
an  example  of  generosity  and  disinterestedness  to  the  great 
men  of  the  city.  He  declined  to  make  any  of  the  exac- 
tions which  were  the  perquisite  and  privilege  of  a  Persian 
pekah  ;  and  he  gave  liberally  of  his  own  means  to  assist  the 
needy.  It  is  little  wonder  that  before  long  he  became 
popular. 

When  the  walls  were  nearly  completed  and  the  gates 
hung,  he  was  surprised  and  concerned  to  find  that  the 
Levites  who  should  have  kept  the  gates  (and  indeed  nearly 
all  other  Levites)  were  missing.  They  had  migrated  to 
other  parts  of  the  country,  where,  as  for  a  long  time  they 
had  received  no  support  from  the  tithes,  they  went  to  earn 
a  living.  Thus  far  the  active  governor  had  not  concerned 
himself  with  the  affairs  of  the  Temple,  but  now  he  took  this 
matter  of  tithes  and  dues  into  his  own  hand.  He  also  care- 
fully went  over  the  Roll  of  the  Congregation  and  examined 
the  credentials  of  the  officiating  priests,  with  the  result  (that 
he  excluded  from  citizenship  six  hundred  and  forty-two 
persons,  and  from  priestly  functions  in  the  Temple  three 
families  of  the  house  of  Aaron  who  were  unable  to  produce 
a  satisfactory  family  record.  These  were  set  aside  until  a 
prophet  should  appear  with  Urim  and  Thummim,  and 
decide  their  position. 

Up  to  this  time  there  is  no  mention  of  any  intercourse 

1  See  repeated  passages  in  the  great  inscription  of  Darius  the  son 
of  Hystaspes  on  the  Rock  of  Behistun ;  one  clause  of  which  reads 
thus:  "  Says  Darius  the  king,  Thou  who  shall  be  king  hereafter,  be- 
ware of  all  lying ;  punish  severely  the  man  who  lies." 


70  JUDEA. 

between  Nehemiah  and  Ezra,  but  thenceforward  the  former 
seems  to  have  fallen  greatly  under  the  influence  of  his  less 
active  but  more  highly  educated  predecessor. 

As  soon  as  Jerusalem  was  properly  fortified  Nehemiah 
used  both  power  and  persuasion  to  fill  it  with  inhabitants. 
He  did  more,  he  built  small  houses  at  his  own  expense  for 
the  poorer  part  of  the  population,  whom  he  drew  in  from 
the  villages.  When  we  read,  in  the  account  of  those  who 
worked  on  the  wall,  that  some  came  from  the  goldsmiths' 
quarter,  and  some  from  that  of  the  merchants,  it  does  not 
give  us  the  idea  of  an  impoverished  and  depopulated  city. 
Possibly  these  names  were  retained  from  the  memory  of 
streets  so  called  in  happier  times. 

Thus  the  walls  were  completed  and  safety  secured. 
Then,  as  Graetz  says,  Nehemiah,  "  having  formed  the 
people  into  a  compact  body,  sought  to  breathe  into  this 
body  the  living  soul  of  the  Law." 

Taking  advantage  of  a  great  festival  which  brought 
people  from  the  country  into  Jerusalem,  he  commissioned 
Ezra  to  assemble  them,  —  not  in  the  Temple,  for  the  move- 
ment was  apparently  not  countenanced  by  the  priests,  — 
but  in  an  open  space  before  the  West  Gate,  and  there  from 
a  pulpit  of  wood  to  read  to  them,  from  his  own  copy  of  the 
Book  of  Deuteronomy,  a  synopsis  of  the  Law.  The  ver- 
nacular language  spoken  by  all  Jews  both  in  Palestine  and 
Babylon  at  this  period  seems  to  have  been  Aramaic.  The 
language  of  learning,  literature,  and  worship  was  Hebrew. 

"  What  is  termed  Chaldee,"  says  Professor  Sayce,  "  is 
really  an  Aramean  dialect,  and  the  word  Syriac  employed 
in  the  A.  V.  would  be  a  more  accurate  description  of  it. 
.  .  .  Chaldee,  or  Aramaic,  as  we  ought  to  term  it,  was  really 
spoken  by  the  Aramean  tribes  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia, 
some  of  whom  extended  as  far  south  as  the  frontiers  of 
Babylonia  itself."  He  goes  on  to  say  that  "as  far  back  as 
the  decay  of  the  Phoenician  cities,  in  the  days  of  the  second 
Assyrian  Empire,  Aramaic  became  the  language  of  com- 
merce, the  commercial  centre  having  been  transferred  to 
Carchemish,  the  old  Hittite  capital,  on  the  great  high-road 


THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAH.          /I 

to  the  East,  and  commerce  passed  in  a  large  measure  into 
the  hands  of  Aramean  merchants.  Their  speech  became  a 
sort  of  lingua  franca,  as,  since  the  days  of  the  Venetians, 
Italian  has  been  in  the  Levant.  Contracts  at  Nineveh,  long 
before  the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  had  Aramaic  dockets 
attached  to  them.  Like  French  in  modern  times,  it  be- 
came the  language  of  diplomacy.  And,  Aramaic  being  far 
easier  to  learn  than  Assyrian,  there  is  no  wonder  that  the 
Jews  in  their  exile  adopted  it,  and  that  when  the  Book  of 
the  Law  was  read  to  the  multitude  by  Ezra  it  was  not 
understood  without  a  gloss  or  explanation.  .  .  .  This,  says 
Jewish  tradition,  was  the  origin  of  the  Targums  which 
undertook  to  explain  the  words  of  the  Law  by  extempore 
paraphrase." 

When  Ezra  unrolled  his  book  the  people  all  stood  up. 
It  must  have  been  to  many  of  them  their  first  introduction 
to  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  when  he  blessed  the  congregation 
before  he  read,  all  the  people  said  Amen  ! 

The  effect  of  the  reading  and  its  interpretation  by  Le- 
vites,  who,  by  translation  and  exposition,  caused  it  "  to  be 
understanded  of  the  people,"  was  very  great;  especially 
when  that  portion  was  read  which  denounced  fearful  penal- 
ties on  those  who  disregarded  the  Law.  For  the  first  time 
the  people  took  the  words  of  the  Law  of  God  into  their 
hearts,  for  the  first  time  they  felt  it  to  be  an  integral  part 
of  their  existence  both  as  individuals  and  as  a  nation,  and 
realized  that  they  themselves  were  its  appointed  guardians. 

On  that  day  a  great  change  was  silently  brought  about 
in  Israel,  —  scribes  superseded  the  priests  ;  the  priests  had 
never  been  teachers.  Thenceforward  the  national  en- 
thusiasm was  not  for  kings  or  priests,  but  for  the  Law. 

No  wonder  Nehemiah  called  upon  the  people,  who  were 
weeping  over  their  ignorant  neglect  of  the  commandments 
in  the  Torah,  not  to  sorrow,  but  to  rejoice,  and  turn  the 
occasion  into  one  of  festivity  and  mirth. 

The  reading  had  produced  so  much  effect  that  by 
especial  request  of  the  chief  laymen  it  was  continued  for  a 
week.  At  the  end  of  that  week  came  the  season  for  the 


72  JUDEA. 

Feast  of  Tabernacles.  Joyfully  the  people  went  into  the 
mountains,  cut  down  boughs,  palm-trees,  and  other  branches, 
an'd  prepared  booths  in  the  city  in  which  to  dwell  during 
the  continuance  of  the  Feast. 

Ezra,  seeing  how  much  the  people  were  now  moved, 
seized  the  occasion  to  urge  his  favorite  reform  on  Nehemiah. 
By  their  joint  authority  a  fast  was  appointed  to  mourn  for 
the  sin  of  mixed  marriages.  When  the  passage  in  the  Law 
forbidding  alliances  with  Ammonites  and  Moabites  was 
read  and  expounded,  the  people  were  greatly  affected. 
Possibly  none  of  them  knew  that  the  great-grandmother  of 
David  was  a  Moabitess.  There  was  a  general  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  sin  of  which  the  nation  had  been  guilty, 
and  all  present  who  were  involved  in  it,  at  once  promised 
to  put  away  their  foreign  wives. 

They  also  entered  into  a  covenant  to  live  thenceforward 
in  all  things  obedient  to  the  Law.  They  would  keep  the 
Sabbath,  observe  the  Holy  Days,  let  the  land  lie  fallow  on 
the  Sabbatical  Year,  and  remit  all  debts  when  that  year  came 
round.  Each  man  would  give  one-third  of  a  shekel  each 
year  to  the  Temple  treasury,  and  would  be  scrupulous 
in  paying  his  first  fruits  and  tithes. 

Soon  after  this  a  popular  rejoicing  and  festival  occurred 
on  the  occasion  of  the  dedication  of  the  new  Wall  of 
Jerusalem.  This  possibly  had  been  put  off  until  it  could 
receive  the  approval  of  Artaxerxes.  All  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem  (except  the  priests)  marched  in  procession  round 
the  city,  one  half  headed  by  Nehemiah,  the  other  by  Ezra. 
Each  was  accompanied  by  a  band  of  Levites  singing  psalms, 
and  by  musicians.  The  two  processions  marched  in  op- 
posite directions,  and  met  again  when  they  had  completed 
the  circuit. 

To  the  wall  Nehemiah  added  a  citadel  called  the  Bira, 
from  a  Persian  word  signifying  a  fortress.  It  stood  upon 
Mount  Zion  over  against  the  Temple,  and  in  after  years  its 
site  was  occupied  by  the  Roman  Castle  of  Antonia. 

Ezra  was  made  guardian  of  the  Temple,  an  appointment 
probably  very  unacceptable  to  its  priestly  inhabitants. 


THE   ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAff.          73 

Many  reforms  were  put  in  operation,  and  careful,  business- 
like arrangements  were  made  for  the  poor  servitors  of  the 
Temple,  who  in  time  past  had  been  so  cruelly  neglected  by 
their  superiors. 

After  accomplishing  this  work,  which  had  taken  him 
twelve  years,  Nehemiah  appointed  deputies  in  his  place  as 
governor,  and  set  out  for  Susa  to  resume  his  place  in  the 
royal  household.  He  could  hardly  have  reached  Susa 
before  everything  that  he  flattered  himself  he  had  left  in 
good  order  was  changed. 

Tobijah  the  Ammonite  was  connected  with  the  high- 
priest,  Eliashib,  who  was  the  grandson  of  Joshua  the  son  of 
Josadak.  He  had  married  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
leading  men  in  Jerusalem,  and  his  son  Johanan  (whom 
Nehemiah  calls  contemptuously  "  slave  of  the  Ammonites," 
though  he  was  probably  in  their  service  as  a  military 
officer)  had  also  become  the  husband  of  a  highly  connected 
Jewish  lady.  The  opponents  of  the  Puritans  spoke  of 
Tobijah  in  high  terms  of  praise,  and  sometimes  took  a 
malicious  delight  in  enlarging  on  his  good  qualities  in  the 
presence  of  the  other  party,  who  considered  him  the  enemy 
of  God.  Associated  with  him  was  Sanballat  the  Horonite, 
a  rich  man  who  seems  at  one  time  to  have  been  governor 
of  Samaria.  One  of  his  daughters  married  a  son  of  the 
high-priest,  Eliashib.  A  certain  Arah  Sheikh  named 
Geshem  also  assisted  Tobijah  and  Sanballat  in  working 
mischief  for  the  Jews. 

No  sooner  had  Nehemiah  departed  (433  B.C.)  than  these 
persons  began  to  resume  their  influence  among  the  higher 
classes  in  Jerusalem.  Tobijah  was  invited  to  the  city  by 
his  friends  and  connections,  and  was  not  only  cordially 
received  by  the  "  best  society,"  but  was  given  lodgings  in 
the  Temple  itself,  where  he  was  assigned  one  of  the  cham- 
bers generally  used  to  store  the  offerings,  the  incense,  the 
furniture,  and  the  utensils  needed  for  the  Temple  service. 

Many  persons  after  this  hoped  and  expected  that  Tobijah 
might  be  appointed  pekah  of  Judea  in  place  of  Nehemiah, 
but  Artaxerxes  was  true  to  his  old  friend,  and  Nehemiah 


74  JUDEA. 

returned,  after  a  further  absence  of  twelve  years,  to  re- 
claim his  authority.  His  deputies  —  his  brother  and 
Hanani  —  had  been  completely  set  aside,  and  Ezra  had 
once  more  vanished  into  obscurity. 

Nehemiah  was  furiously  angry  when  he  beheld  what  had 
taken  place  during  his  absence.  The  mere  fact  of  Tobijah 
being  lodged  in  the  Temple  displeased  him  exceedingly. 
He  caused  all  the  intruder's  furniture  and  effects  to  be 
flung  out  of  the  sacred  precincts,  the  rooms  he  had  occu- 
pied purified,  and  the  Temple  offerings,  the  incense,  and 
other  things  that  had  been  removed  for  his  accommo- 
dation, put  back  again. 

Soon  Nehemiah  found  that  other  irregularities  had  crept 
into  his  jurisdiction.  The  singers  and  the  Levites  had  not 
been  regularly  paid,  nor  the  stores  rightly  administered. 
He  therefore  organized  a  board,  composed  of  a  priest,  a 
scribe,  a  Levite,  and  a  layman,  to  make  a  proper  distribu- 
tion to  the  inferior  servants  of  the  Temple.  But  Nehe- 
miah's  greatest  care  was  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbath.  In  one  of  his  walks  he  saw  men  upon  that  day 
treading  the  winepress,  while  others  brought  asses,  laden 
with  market  produce,  through  the  gates  to  be  sold  that  day 
in  the  markets  of  Jerusalem.  There  were  also  men  of  Tyre 
and  Sidon  who  sold  fish  upon  the  Sabbath  to  rich  peo- 
ple, who  did  not  hesitate  to  buy  of  them.  Nehemiah  re- 
proached the  transgressors  vehemently,  and  put  an  end  to 
such  traffic  by  ordering  the  city  gates  to  be  closed  on  Friday 
at  sunset,  and  not  opened  again  until  the  Sabbath  was  over. 

Nehemiah,  who  had  certainly  come  under  the  influence 
of  Ezra,  now  took  up  the  matter  of  mixed  marriages.  One 
day  he  met  some  children  whose  fathers  had  married 
women  of  Ashdod,  Ammon,  and  Moab.  Half  of  these 
little  ones  spoke  only  the  dialect  of  some  heathen  nation. 
Nehemiah  reviled  their  fathers  vigorously,  "  cursed  some  of 
them,  and  plucked  out  their  hair,"1  adjuring  the  bystanders 

1  An  amusing  story  is  told  of  a  sermon  preached  on  this  text  in  old 
Colonial  times,  when  some  very  unclerical  rectors  found  their  way  to 
Virginia  from  the  mother  country.  One  of  these  in  the  heat  of  pas- 


THE   ADMINISTRATION  OF  NEHEMIAPT.        75 

in  the  name  of  God  to  make  no  alliances  in  the  families  of 
those  who  were  not  true  children  of  Israel ;  and  he  held  up 
to  them  as  a  warning  the  example  of  Solomon,  led  astray  by 
strange  wives. 

But  an  evil  example  in  this  respect  was  set  the  people  in 
the  very  highest  places.  Joiada,  the  son  of  Eliashib  the 
high-priest,  had  married  a  woman  of  mixed  race,  and  his  son 
Manasseh  wedded  Nicaso,  the  daughter  of  Sanballat  the 
Horonite.  Joiada,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  became  in 
his  turn  high-priest.  Nehemiah  could  not  displace  him, 
but  he  drove  his  son  Manasseh  from  Jerusalem.  Manasseh 
took  refuge  with  his  father-in-law  in  Samaria,  carrying  with 
him  a  copy  of  the  Law.  He  was  subsequently  made  high- 
priest  of  the  new  Temple  which  Sanballat  and  the  Samaritans 
set  up  on  Mount  Gerizim. 

It  is  thought  that  Nehemiah  continued  in  Jerusalem,  and 
died  there  an  old  man.  His  patron  Artaxerxes  died  in 
425  B.C.,  and  his  death  was  succeeded  by  a  long  series  of 
disturbances  in  the  vast  empire  which  he,  for  the  most 
part,  had  ruled  in  peace.  "  A  prince,"  says  Sayce,  "  so 
favorable  to  the  Jewish  religion  as  Artaxerxes  I.  never  again 
sat  upon  the  throne  of  Persia.  But  the  work  which  he  had 
been  raised  up  to  do  had  been  accomplished,  and  the  Jew- 
ish church  was  firmly  established  beyond  the  reach  of  court 
intrigues  or  of  civil  strife."  His  instrument,  Nehemiah,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  characters  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament ;  he  has  revealed  himself  to  us  so  thoroughly.  He 
was  a  conscientious  fanatic,  an  able  man  of  business,  an  ex- 
cellent administrator,  a  man  of  ardent  piety,  with  a  keen 
sense  of  justice  and  a  kind  heart.  To  Nehemiah's  methods 
of  government  in  certain  cases  M.  Kenan's  words  relating 
to  Ezra  might  be  more  appropriately  applied  :  "  He  em- 
ployed the  roughness  of  a  fanatical  gendarme  to  carry  out 
his  work  of  reformation." 

sion  assaulted  members  of  his  vestry,  and  was  threatened  with  an 
action  for  assault  and  battery.  On  the  following  Sunday  he  preached 
with  great  energy  a  sermon  on  this  episode  in  the  history  of  Nehe- 
miah, giving  out  as  his  text  the  passage  above  quoted.  See  Bishop 
Meade's  "  Old  Families  of  Virginia." 


76  JUDEA. 

We  know  nothing  positively  about  the  latter  years  of 
Ezra.  Personally  unsuccessful  as  a  statesman  and  reformer, 
he  seems  to  have  retired  from  public  life  and  devoted  him- 
self to  the  duties  of  his  profession.  He  did  a  most  impor- 
tant work  among  his  countrymen,  whether  most  for  good  or 
most  for  evil  it  would  be  hard  to  determine.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  strict  exclusiveness  he  urged  upon  the  Jewish 
people  kept  their  nation  like  a  stone  fixed  in  a  sure  place, 
an  object  lesson  to  the  whole  earth,  as  it  is  to  this  day,  of 
the  promises,  the  warnings,  the  dealings  of  Jehovah  with 
His  people.  What  the  Temple  was  to  the  Jews,  their  nation 
has  been  to  all  men.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  centre  of 
Jewish  life  a  stop  was  put  to  what  prophets  had  declared 
to  be  the  nation's  mission,  —  the  gathering  of  the  Gentiles 
to  the  true  worship  of  God. 

Ezra  inspired  his  countrymen  with  the  deepest  reverence 
for  their  Scriptures,  of  which  from  his  day  they  constituted 
themselves  the  guardians.  He  infused  into  the  Chasidim 
such  reverence  for  God's  Law,  such  zeal  to  obey  its  com- 
mandments, that  he  laid  the  foundation  for  the  glorious 
patriotism,  self-devotion,  and  religious  zeal  of  the  days  of 
the  Maccabees. 

But  though  Israel  never  fell  again  into  idolatry,  the  course 
of  its  national  life  after  the  death  of  Judas  Maccabseus  and 
his  brothers  became  as  full  of  crime,  covetousness,  and  self- 
seeking  as  that  of  any  other  Oriental  nation.  Fervor  de- 
generated into  formalism,  reverence  for  the  Law  caused 
teachers  to  "  set  a  hedge  about  it "  of  onerous  practices 
and  vain  traditions.  In  Ezra's  time  the  first  split  was 
made  in  Jewish  national  life  which  set  the  nation  into  two 
hostile  camps  until  the  very  end.  In  our  Lord's  time 
these  parties  were  called  Pharisees  and  Sadducees ;  in 
Ezra's  they  were  Reformers  and  Zadokites,  —  "  those  who 
trembled  at  the  commands  of  God  "  as  they  called  them- 
selves, and  the  worldly-minded,  moved  chiefly  by  self- 
interest. 

After  the  time  of  Ezra,  the  laws  regulating  religious  ob- 
servance became  stricter  every  day.  It  was  the  scribes  who 


THE  ADMINISTRATION-  OF  NEHEMIAH.          JJ 

imposed  the  yoke  on  their  disciples  that  Jesus  said  men 
were  unable  to  bear.  The  Torah,  or  the  Law  of  Ceremonies, 
grew  by  many  additions. 

"  The  ceremonial  overshadowed  the  spiritual  side  of  holi- 
ness. The  effect  of  placing  ceremonial  laws  on  the  same 
level  with  moral  regulations,  had  the  tendency  in  course 
of  time  to  depress  the  spiritual  side  of  religion  by  obscur- 
ing the  fundamental  principles  of  life.  It  substituted  for 
the  high  ideals  of  religion  a  body  of  rules  which  could  not 
command  the  best  affections  of  the  heart.  The  people 
eagerly  took  hold  of  the  concrete  side  of  religion,  losing 
sight  of  the  spiritual."  l 

We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  tradition  is 
correct  which  tells  us  that  Ezra  devoted  the  latter  years  of 
his  life  to  transcribing  the  Scriptures  and  collecting  and  ar- 
ranging scattered  documents ;  and  we  may  believe  that 
the  preservation  of  much  of  the  text  of  the  historical  por- 
tions of  the  Sacred  Volume  is,  humanly  speaking,  due  to 
the  labors  of  the  great  scribe,  who  was  not  greatly  venerated 
by  his  countrymen  until  after  his  death,  but  whom  they 
subsequently  regarded  as  "  a  second  Moses." 

It  is  probable  that  before  Ezra's  death  the  book  of 
prophecy  was  closed.  It  is  not  certain  whether  any  living 
man  was  called  Malachi.  The  word  malaki  means  "my 
messenger."  The  abuses  the  prophet  attacked  were  those 
rebuked  by  Nehemiah,  —  negligence  in  the  payment  of 
tithes  and  other  priestly  dues,  marriages  which  were  to  be 
avoided  between  Jewish  men  and  semi-heathen  women,  the 
prevalence  of  divorce,2  and  the  offering  in  sacrifice  of  beasts 
lame  or  imperfect,  such  as  they  would  not  have  dared  to 
offer  to  their  Persian  governors. 

1  From  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Guttmacher,  Rabbi  of  a  Bal- 
timore Hebrew  Congregation;    reported  in  the   Baltimore   Sunday 
Herald,  June  12,  1898. 

2  Notwithstanding  the  recent  forced  repudiation  of  wives  of  foreign 
origin. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT. 

17  ROM  the  close  of  the  administration  of  Nehemiah, 
probably  about  420  B.C.,  to  the  invasion  of  the  Persian 
Empire  by  Alexander  of  Macedon  (333  B.C.)  there  is 
absolutely  no  record  of  events  in  the  history  of  Judea. 
This  is  in  strange  contrast  to  the  abundance  of  details 
furnished  us  in  connection  with  other  centuries  of  Jewish 
history. 

But  during  this  time  tremendous  changes  were  taking 
place  in  eastern  Europe ;  the  world  was  making  progress 
with  rapid  strides.  The  rivalry  of  Athens  and  Sparta,  and 
the  short-lived  power  of  Thebes,  were  preparing  the  way 
for  the  predominance  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  whose  victory 
at  Chseronea,  while  it  forever  destroyed  the  self-government 
of  many  turbulent  communities,  united  under  one  leader 
the  whole  power  of  Greece. 

Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  the  friend  of  Nehemiah,  died  in 
425  B.C.  Between  his  death  and  the  accession  of  his  great- 
nephew,  Artaxerxes  Ochus  (359  B.C.)  there  were  four 
Persian  kings,  two  of  whom  reigned  only  a  few  months. 
One  of  the  predecessors  of  Artaxerxes  Ochus  was  Arta- 
xerxes Mnemon,  so  called  from  his  remarkable  memory. 
In  his  reign  occurred  the  revolt  of  his  brother  Cyrus,  who 
was  assisted  by  a  body  of  ten  thousand  Greek  troops  under 
Xenophon,  who,  after  the  defeat  of  Cyrus  at  the  battle  of 
Cunaxa,  successfully  accomplished  their  retreat  to  the  Black 
Sea ;  but  nothing  in  the  reigns  of  these  Persian  sovereigns 
seems  to  have  had  any  influence  on  the  history  of  the  Jews. 

In  the  time  of  Artaxerxes  III.,  —  Artaxerxes  Ochus, — 
however,  Bagoses,  an  Egyptian  eunuch,  was  intrusted  with 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT. 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT.  79 

the  whole  government  of  the  Persian  Empire,  while  the 
king  sank  into  the  luxurious  repose  of  an  oriental  sovereign. 
In  connection  with  Bagoses  occurred  the  only  incident 
that  breaks  through  the  darkness  that  settled  down  on 
Jewish  history  for  one  hundred  years. 

The  high-priest,  Eliashib,  seems  to  have  lived  until 
419  B.C.,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Joiada.  Joiada 
dying  in  383  B.C.,  left  three  sons.  One  was  Manasseh,  the 
officiating  high-priest  in  the  Temple  set  up  on  Mount  Geri- 
zim  ;  the  two  others  were  Johanan  and  Joshua.  Johanan,  be- 
ing the  elder,  succeeded  his  father,  but  his  ambitious  brother 
Joshua,  having  bribed  Bagoses  to  support  his  cause,  dis- 
puted the  succession.  A  bitter  quarrel  ensued.  Joshua 
attacked  his  brother  as  he  was  officiating  in  the  Temple, 
and  was  killed  by  him  in  the  Sanctuary.  Bagoses  took  up 
the  cause  of  his  protege  so  far  as  to  make  his  own  profit 
out  of  the  disgraceful  tragedy.  For  each  lamb  offered  in 
sacrifice  at  the  daily  service  in  the  Temple,  the  people 
were  required  to  pay  fifty  drachmas  of  expiatory  money ; 
and  this  tax  was  collected  every  morning  before  the  first 
lamb  for  sacrifice  was  slain.  Bagoses  also  insisted  on  his 
right  to  set  foot  in  the  Holy  Place,  or  Sanctuary,  and 
asked  mockingly  if  he  were  not  as  good  as  the  man  of 
priestly  birth  who  had  been  murdered  there.  For  seven 
years  the  tax  on  lambs  was  paid  from  the  treasury  of  the 
Temple. 

Bagoses,  the  honored  and  trusted  favorite  of  Artaxerxes 
III.,  could  never  forget  that  he  was  an  Egyptian.  Arta- 
xerxes in  the  early  years  of  his  reign  had  made  an  expe- 
dition into  that  country,  had  ruined  her  cities,  plundered 
her  temples,  and  insulted  in  every  way  her  national 
religion.  Nor  was  this  because  Artaxerxes  was  an  icono- 
clast or  a  monotheist.  He  and  his  father  had  corrupted 
the  purer  teaching  of  Zoroaster,  and  had  introduced  two 
new  divinities  into  Persian  worship,  Mithra  and  Ahuramazda, 
the  goddess  of  love.  Their  statues  he  caused  to  be  set 
up  in  all  temples  throughout  his  empire,  and  their  names 
to  appear  in  his  inscriptions,  and  he  is  said  to  have  made 


80  JUDEA. 

great  efforts  to  force  their  worship  on  his  subjects  in  various 
lands. 

Bagoses,  in  spite  of  the  favors  he  had  received,  and  the 
confidence  reposed  in  him,  determined  to  revenge  the 
wrongs  of  Egypt  by  poisoning  his  master  and  destroying 
his  family,  after  doing  which  he  tendered  the  Persian  crown 
to  a  young  man  named  Codomannus,  who  was  of  royal  race, 
but  had  not  been  born  in  the  purple.  For  some  years  he 
had  supported  himself  by  acting  as  a  royal  courier  or 
bearer  of  the  king's  despatches ;  but  a  deed  of  valor 
brought  him  into  prominence,  and  he  was  made  governor 
of  Armenia.  On  his  elevation  to  the  Persian  throne 
Codomannus  took  the  name  of  Darius,  and  was  the  sov- 
ereign who,  defeated  and  dethroned  by  Alexander,  was 
treacherously  murdered  by  his  own  guards  as  he  was  trying 
to  escape  into  the  hill  country  of  northern  India.  He 
ascended  the  throne  of  Persia  in  336  B.C.,  and  very  soon 
finding  that  Bagoses  had  prepared  for  him  a  cup  of  poison, 
forced  the  wretch  to  drink  the  potion  in  his  presence, 
and  so  got  rid  of  him. 

Darius  Codomannus,  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  ruled 
over  a  vast  empire.  He  was  personally  brave,  and  all  men 
who  approached  him  acknowledged  his  merits.  He  had 
from  his  provinces  an  enormous  annual  revenue,  besides 
immense  treasures  laid  up  in  strongly  fortified  cities. 

When  Darius  had  reigned  seventeen  years,  Greece,  under 
the  leadership  of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  "  with  the  most 
extraordinary  outburst  of  fervor  recorded  in  history,  went 
to  war  with  the  entire  East,  and  in  ten  years  had  won  a 
complete  victory."  l 

Greek  armies  penetrated  into  Central  Asia  and  to  India ; 
seeds  of  sympathy  with  Greece  —  germs  rather,  we  may  say, 
of  Greek  ideas — were  scattered  throughout  Asia  Minor, 
Syria,  and  Egypt.  They  took  root  and  developed  rapidly. 

1  When  in  1841  English  captives  after  the  disaster  at  Cabul  were 
carried  into  the  mountains  north  of  Afghanistan,  they  came,  to 
their  surprise,  upon  a  column  erected  to  commemorate  the  arrival  at 
that  spot  of  Alexander's  army. 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT.  8 1 

"  For  once,"  continues  Renan,  "  the  march  of  mind 
followed  the  march  of  armies.  The  rude  Macedonians, 
who  under  the  leadership  of  Alexander  accomplished  a 
campaign  to  be  compared  only  to  those  of  France  under 
the  Revolution  and  the  Empire,  were  assuredly  not  men  of 
letters,  nor  great  thinkers;  but  what  matter?  Ideas  travel 
with  men  often  in  a  course  opposite  to  that  in  which  it  is 
meant  to  lead  them.  A  French  army  thrown  into  a  foreign 
country  to  uphold  an  anti- French  policy,  takes  with  it  the 
ideas  of  France.  In  past  ages  a  Greek  was  everywhere  a 
man  of  enlightenment,  as  a  Frenchman  in  more  modern 
times  is  everywhere  a  liberal.  .  .  .  But  Greece,  with  all 
her  progress  in  free  government,  philosophy,  and  art,  was 
weak  in  her  religion.  Her  philosophers  saw  that  the 
gods  of  the  vulgar  had  no  existence,  and  yet  her  men  of 
highest  intellect  continued  to  employ  poetry  and  art  in  the 
service  of  a  brilliant  idolatry.  Nor  had  the  wise  men  of 
Greece  any  sympathy  with  questions  affecting  the  morality 
or  well-being  of  the  common  people.  They  had  none  of 
the  burning  enthusiasm  felt  by  the  prophets  of  Israel  for  the 
good  of  mankind,  and  for  the  glory  of  the  Father  of  all  men. 
Few  Greeks  had  reached  the  height  to  which  Alexander 
himself  attained  when  he  said  :  "  God  is  the  Father  of  all, 
especially  of  the  best  men."  The  whole  world  was  infected 
by  religious  disbelief."  x 

Dr.  Arnold  has  spoken  thus  of  Alexander  of  Macedon  : 
"  Asia  beheld  with  astonishment  and  awe  the  uninter- 
rupted progress  of  a  hero  the  sweep  of  whose  conquests 
was  as  wide  and  as  rapid  as  that  of  her  own  barbaric  kings, 
or  of  the  Scythian  or  Chaldaean  hordes,  but,  far  unlike 
the  transient  whirlwinds  of  Asiatic  warfare,  the  advance 
of  the  Macedonian  leader  was  no  less  deliberate  than 
rapid.  At  every  step  the  Greek  power  took  root,  and  the 
language  and  civilization  of  Greece  were  speedily  planted 
from  the  shores  of  the  ^Egean  to  the  banks  of  the  Indus, 
from  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  great  Hyrcanian  plain  to 
the  Cataracts  of  the  Nile,  —  to  exist  there  actually  for 

1  Cf.  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel. 
6 


82  JUDEA. 

nearly  a  thousand  years,  and  in  their  effects  to  endure 
forever." 

Jn  the  spring  of  the  year  334  B.C.  Alexander,  with  an 
army  of  30,000  loot  and  5000  horse,  crossed  over  into 
Asia  and  landed  without  opposition  in  the  dominions  of 
Darius.  Five  days  later,  his  little  army  encountered  a 
Persian  force,  more  than  three  times  its  own  number,  on 
the  banks  of  the.Granicus,  and  gained  a  complete  victory. 
A  year  later,  Darius,  having  collected  a  vast  army,  variously 
estimated  at  from  400,000  to  600,000  men,  took  the  field 
in  person,  and  was  totally  routed  in  the  battle  of  Issus,  his 
military  movements  being  impeded  by  the  disorganized 
multitude  he  called  an  army. 

Alexander's  plan  was  to  secure  the  maritime  provinces 
of  the  Persian  Empire  before  he  marched  into  the  interior. 
He  therefore,  in  the  spring  of  332,  invaded  Phoenicia,  whose 
cities  and  districts  tendered  him  their  submission.  Tyre, 
queen  of  the  sea,  alone  resisted  him,  being  encouraged  to 
do  so  by  ambassadors  from  Carthage.  Alexander  was 
therefore  forced  to  besiege  it  for  seven  months.  This  delay 
in  his  march  to  Egypt  irritated  him  greatly,  and  when  at 
last  he  took  the  city  his  revenge  was  terrible.  As  many 
Tyrians  as  could  escape  by  sea  fled  to  Carthage,  eight 
thousand  perished  by  the  sword,  thirty  thousand  were  sold 
as  slaves,  two  thousand  principal  citizens  were  put  to  death 
(by  some  they  were  said  to  have  been  crucified)  ;  the  city 
was  given  up  to  sack  and  pillage,  and  then  laid  in  ashes. 

Alexander,  when  he  began  his  march  through  Syria,  had 
sent  his  commands  to  all  the  cities  of  Palestine  to  acknowl- 
edge his  authority,  and  to  furnish  him  provisions  for  his 
soldiers.  All  had  submitted  to  his  requisitions  except  Tyre, 
Gaza,  and  Jerusalem.  Tyre  had  received  her  punishment. 
Jerusalem  and  Gaza  might  expect  the  same  fate.  When  to 
Jaddua  the  high-priest  was  brought  the  command  issued 
from  the  conqueror's  camp  before  Tyre,  he  had  replied  that 
his  people  had  sworn  fealty  to  Darius,  and  that  so  long  as 
that  monarch  was  alive,  they  would  not  break  their  oath 
by  yielding  obedience  and  aid  to  his  enemy. 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT.  83 

Alexander  was  greatly  incensed.  He  vowed  vengeance 
against  the  petty  tribe  which  had  refused  to  obey  his 
mandate,  and,  as  soon  as  Tyre  was  destroyed,  he  resumed 
his  march  towards  Egypt,  encountering  no  opposition  on  his 
way  through  Palestine. 

What  followed  is  told  by  Josephus,  and  is  recorded  in 
the  Talmud,  but  Bishop  Thirlwall,  in  his  "  History  of  Greece," 
Dean  Stanley,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,"  Graetz, 
in  his  "  History  of  the  Jewish  People,"  and  Renan,  in  his 
"History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  hold  the  story  to  be 
legendary.  Renan  passes  it  over  with  brief  mention ;  but 
I  will  give  here  what  Dean  Stanley  says  of  the  interview 
(whether  apocryphal  or  real)  between  Alexander  and  Jaddua, 
the  high-priest,  within  sight  of  Jerusalem.1 

"  According  to  Josephus,  Alexander  had  mounted  the 
hills  that  stand  round  about  Jerusalem,  by  the  Pass  of 
Bethoron,  and  found  himself  standing  with  his  friend 
Parmenio  on  the  eminence  called  '  the  Watch-tower,' 
but  known  in  earlier  days  by  its  Hebrew  name  of  Mizpah. 
There,  before  Jerusalem  had  been  conquered  from  the 
Jebusites,  Samuel  had  held  his  assemblies ;  there,  as  in  a 
commanding  place  of  oversight,  the  Chaldean  and  Persian 
Viceroys  had  had  their  habitations;  there,  in  after  days 
was  the  Maccabean  place  of  wailing ;  there  Titus  had  his 
first  view  of  the  Holy  City;  and  there  in  332  before  the 
Christian  Era,  stood,  with  Parmenio  at  his  side,  the  Grecian 
conqueror.  Suddenly  from  Jerusalem,  which  was  full  in 
view,  emerged  a  long  procession,  —  the  whole  population 
streamed  out,  dressed  in  white  ;  the  priestly  tribe  in  their 
sacerdotal  robes,  the  high-priest,  apparently  the  chief 
authority  in  the  place,  in  his  blue  and  gold  attire,  the  tur- 
ban on  his  head  bearing  the  golden  plate,  on  which  was 
inscribed  the  ineffable  name  of  Jehovah.  It  was  Jaddua, 
the  descendant  of  the  indulgent  Eliashib,  the  son  of  the 
fratricide  Johanan,  who,  it  was  said,  in  his  agony  of  fear  at 
Alexander's  approach,  had  been  warned  in  a  dream  to  take 
this  means  of  appeasing  the  conqueror's  wrath.  'Who 

1  Cf.  Stanley's  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  vol.  iii.,  lecture  47. 


84  JUDEA, 

are  these  ?  '  said  Alexander  to  the  Samaritan  guides  who 
had  gained  from  him  a  promise  that  he  would  destroy  the 
Jewish  Temple.  '  They  are  the  rebels  who  deny  your 
authority,'  said  the  men  of  the  rival  nation.  The  proces- 
sion, which,  in  full  view  of  the  Macedonian  host,  had  to 
descend  Mount  Zion,  cross  a  valley,  and  reascend  a  steep 
mountain  on  its  other  side,  marched  on  all  night  in  two 
ranks,  preceded  by  torches,  with  its  band  of  priestly 
musicians  clashing  their  cymbals.  It  was  the  sunrise  of  a 
December  morning  when  they  stood  before  Alexander. 
To  the  astonishment  of  the  surrounding  Greeks,  the  king 
descended  from  his  chariot,  and  bowed  himself  before  the 
Jewish  leader.  None  ventured  to  ask  him  the  meaning  of 
this  seeming  frenzy,  save  Parmenio,  who  said :  '  Why 
should  he  whom  all  men  worship,  worship  the  high-priest 
of  the  Jews?'  'Not  him  I  worship,'  replied  the  king, 
'  but  the  God  whose  high-priest  he  is.  Long  ago  at  Dium 
in  Macedonia  I  saw  in  a  dream  such  an  one,  in  such 
attire  as  this,  who  urged  me  to  undertake  the  conquest  of 
Persia,  and  told  me  I  should  succeed.'  Then,  hand  in 
hand  with  the  high- priest,  and  with  the  priestly  tribe  run- 
ning beside  his  chariot,  he  entered  Jerusalem,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  sacred  enclosure,  where  he  offered  the  usual 
sacrifice,  saw  with  pleasure  allusions  to  his  career  in  the 
sacred  books,  granted  the  Jews  the  right  to  be  governed  by 
their  ancestral  laws,  promised  to  befriend  the  Jewish  settle- 
ments in  Babylonia  and  Media,  and  invited  any  who  were  so 
disposed  to  serve  in  his  army,  with  permission  to  observe 
their  sacred  customs." 

However  much  of  this  story  may  be  legend,  it  is  certain 
that  Alexander  was,  during  his  after  life,  the  firm  friend  of 
the  Jews.  It  is  probable  that  if  he  paid  his  devotions  to 
Jehovah  in  His  Temple,  he  did  so  only  as  he  had  already 
worshipped  Moloch  (or  Melkath)  the  local  god  of  Tyre,  or 
as  he  paid  his  devotions  afterwards  (possibly  with  more 
sincerity)  to  Jupiter  Ammon  in  his  Temple  in  Lybia.  But 
there  is  historical  evidence  that  from  that  time  forth  Alex- 
ander the  Great  was  held  by  the  Jews  in  especial  honor. 


ALEXANDER    THE    GREAT.  85 

His  body  was  brought  some  hundred  miles  from  Babylon  to 
Alexandria  on  a  catafalque  of  extraordinary  size  and  un- 
paralleled magnificence,  drawn  by  sixty-eight  mules.  He 
was  buried  with  great  pomp  in  the  city  he  had  founded, 
and  the  Jews  have  always  venerated  his  resting-place.  The 
Mohammedans,  adopting  Jewish  tradition,  have  placed  him 
among  their  Holy  Ones  as  the  saintly  possessor  of  the  Two 
Horns.  These  horns  he  assumed  upon  his  bas-reliefs  and 
coins  either  to  intimate  the  descent  he  professed  to  claim 
from  Jupiter  Ammon,  or,  as  the  horn  is  the  oriental  emblem  of 
power  and  strength,  they  may  have  been  designed  to  mark 
that  his  rule  was  paramount  both  in  the  West  and  East. 
His  stately  tomb  in  Alexandria  has  now  become  a  wretched 
Mohammedan  chapel,  "kept"  says  Dean  Stanley,  "by  an 
aged  crone  who  watches  over  the  humble  shrine  called 
'The  Grave  of  Iscander  of  the  Two  Horns,  Founder  of 
Alexandria.'  "  l 

It  was  the  glory  of  Alexander  to  build  great  cities.  At 
the  time  of  his  death  he  was  engaged  in  restoring  ruined 
Babylon  to  its  former  splendor.  To  this  end  he  ordered 
all  his  army  to  remove  bricks  and  rubbish  from  the  site  of 
the  great  Temple  of  Bel-Merodach,  which  had  been  de- 

1  When  Vambery,  the  lame  Hungarian  traveller,  made  his 
way  through  Central  Asia  in  1864,  with  a  caravan,  disguised 
as  a  hadji  returning  from  Mecca,  he  found  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Caspian  Sea  a  massive  brick  wall  erected  dur- 
ing the  Macedonian  invasion.  He  says,  after  describing  it : 
"  The  history  of  the  great  Macedonian  conqueror  is  invested 
by  the  orientals  with  the  character  of  a  religious  myth,  and  al- 
though some  of  their  writers  are  anxious  to  distinguish  Iskender 
Zul  Karneim  (the  Two  Horned  Alexander)  from  the  Greek  Alex- 
ander, Iskender  Roumi,  I  have  yet  everywhere  found  the  two  per- 
sonages regarded  as  one  and  the  same.  According  to  Hizel  [a 
brother  hadji],  the  wall  had  been  erected  by  the  genii  (djins)  at  the 
command  of  the  mighty  sovereign  Alexander.  '  Alexander, '  he 
said,  'was  a  more  pious  Mussulman  than  we  are,  and  therefore  all  sub- 
terranean spirits,  whether  they  would  or  no,  owed  him  allegiance.' 
He  was  about  to  proceed  with  the  well-known  fable  of  Alexander's 
descent  into  the  realms  of  darkness,  when  he  became  dumb  on  see- 
ing I  was  absorbed  in  forcibly  extracting  one  of  the  square  red 
bricks  from  the  structure."  (A.  Vambery,  Central  Asia.) 


86  JUDEA. 

stroyed  by  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  a  zealous  worshipper  of 
Zoroaster.  The  Jews  in  his  army  refused  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  the  reconstruction  of  an  idol's  Temple,  and  in- 
curred severe  punishment.  Alexander,  when  the  matter 
was  brought  before  him,  forgave  the  offence  and  remitted 
the  penalty. 

It  was  his  mission  to  impregnate  Hellenism  with  Ju- 
daism, which  could  not  have  been  done  successfully  in  the 
priestly  city  of  Jerusalem,  but  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  by 
the  working  of  God's  providence,  were  to  "  prepare  the 
way  "  for  the  future  spread  of  the  highest  development  of 
Judaism  throughout  the  world. 

As  Alexander  passed  the  place  where  Antioch  on  the 
Orontes  was  subsequently  built,  it  is  said  that  he  had  a  vision 
of  what  a  centre  of  civilization  a  city  erected  on  so  beauti- 
ful a  site  might  become. 

Along  the  coast  of  Palestine  he  made  (or  improved) 
harbors,  and  restored  cities.  One  of  these  cities  was  Joppa, 
where  it  had  pleased  Greek  sailors  in  the  Mediterranean  to 
locate  the  scene  of  the  adventure  of  Perseus  and  Androm- 
eda. On  another  lofty  headland  rose  the  tower  of  Strato, 
named  after  some  magnate  unknown  at  this  day.  Another 
of  his  reconstructions  was  the  old  Canaanitish  fortress  of 
Accho,  subsequently  renamed  Ptolemais  by  one  of  the 
Egyptian  kings.  It  is  once  more  Acre,  and  has  played  its 
part  in  the  history  of  modern  times,  East  of  the  Jordan, 
Rabbah,  in  the  country  of  the  Ammonites,  became  Phil- 
adelphia, and  two  military  settlements  were  made  of  war- 
worn Macedonian  veterans,  Dium  and  Pella.  The  former 
was  called  after  the  town  in  Thrace  where  Alexander 
believed  himself  to  have  seen  the  Jewish  high-priest  in  a 
vision. 

But  the  crowning  monument  to  Alexander's  greatness  is 
the  flourishing  city  called  after  his  name,  which  he  built  at 
one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  opposite  the  Isle  of  Pharos. 
His  eye  there  perceived  a  harbor  superior  to  any  in  Greece 
or  in  Western  Asia;  and  there  he  built  a  city  "formed,"  as 
a  Frenchman  says  who  accompanied  Napoleon  to  Egypt, 


ALEXANDER    THE    GREAT  87 

"  to  unite  the  commerce  of  Europe,  Africa,  and  the  Indies." 
Alexandria,  the  "  great  city  of  all  nations  "was  founded  in  332 
B.C  in  the  interval  between  the  battles  of  Issus  and  Arbela. 
"There,"  says  M.  Renan,  "the  East  and  the  West  were  to 
fertilize  each  other."  Alexandria  was  like  a  hot-bed  being 
prepared  for  the  early  growth  of  Christianity. 

No  Greek  city  had  at  that  time  possessed  an  institution 
where  men  of  learning  could  consult  books,  or  men  of 
science  have  the  use  of  a  laboratory.  Poor  students  could 
have  found  no  means  of  subsistence  in  other  seats  of  learn- 
ing. The  Museum  of  Alexandria  afforded  these  advan- 
tages ;  and  until  the  Roman  conquest,  scientific  investigation 
flourished  in  that  city. 

The  Jewish  race,  which  was  speedily  transported  in  large 
numbers  to  Alexandria,  showed  there  at  its  best.  The  Jew 
in  Alexandria  was  freed  from  the  limitations  of  the  Jew  in 
Torah-ridden  Jerusalem. 

Both  the  new  cities,  Antioch  and  Alexandria  became  full 
of  men  of  Jewish  race.  There  Hebraism  and  Hellenism 
met  face  to  face,  and  their  struggle  for  supremacy  was  a 
sharp  one. 

Had  Napoleon  completed  his  conquest  of  Europe  and 
died  in  the  height  of  his  power,  his  dominions  would 
doubtless  have  undergone  a  fate  similar  to  that  which  befel 
the  mighty  empire  of  Alexander.  Each  of  his  marshals 
would  have  seized  a  kingdom  and  have  soon  turned  their 
armies  against  each  other,  thus  destroying  the  unity  of 
power  which  had  been  the  dream  of  both  Napoleon  and 
Alexander.  The  conquests  of  the  latter  had  been  divided 
by  him  into  satrapies.  Their  satraps,  on  his  death,  made 
themselves  kings  with  little  regard  to  the  feeble  regents  who 
in  the  name  of  an  imbecile  and  a  babe,  professed  to  rule 
over  the  federated  empire. 

Laomedon  had  Syria  and  Palestine ;  the  sagacious 
Ptolemy  Soter  (more  commonly  known  as  Ptolemy  Lagus) 
had  Egypt ;  Antigonus  for  a  time  ruled  over  the  Far  East ; 
and  no  government  was  assigned  to  Seleucus,  who  was  des- 
tined to  become  the  most  powerful  sovereign  of  them  all. 


88  JUDEA. 

The  Rabbi  Raphall  in  his  Post-Biblical  History  of  his 
people,  speaks  thus  of  Ptolemy  :  — 

"  Ptolemy  was  a  natural  son  of  Philip,  King  of  Macedon, 
and  as  such  the  brother  of  Alexander,  but  was  contented  to 
be  thought  the  son  of  Lagus,  and  had  been  treated  by 
Alexander  with  the  more  fraternal  regard  because  he  never 
boasted  the  name  of  brother.  Present  in  Babylon  at  the 
time  of  Alexander's  decease,  highly  honored  by  Alexander, 
and  singularly  beloved  by  the  troops,  he  might,  at  the 
military  council  which  disposed  of  the  empire,  have  aspired, 
with  no  mean  prospect  of  success,  to  fill  the  vacant  throne. 
But  his  sagacity  was  too  discerning  to  allow  him  to  provoke 
a  comparison  with  his  gifted  brother.  .  .  .  His  circum- 
spection was  rewarded  with  the  secret  object  of  his  dearest 
wishes,  —  the  possession  of  the  wealthy  and  secure  kingdom 
of  Egypt." 

Four  years  after  the  death  of  Alexander  (319  B.C.),  when 
the  whole  East  was  convulsed  by  struggles  between  the  rival 
Macedonian  generals,  Ptolemy  invaded  Syria,  which  was 
feebly  defended  by  Laomedon.  He  wanted  to  annex  the 
harbors  of  Phoenicia  and  Palestine,  and  iron  mines  and 
forests  of  timber  in  the  mountains  of  Libanus.  Jerusa- 
lem, however,  held  out  against  him,  her  rulers  pleading  that 
they  had  sworn  allegiance  to  Laomedon,  who,  though  de- 
feated and  a  fugitive,  was  still  living.  Ptolemy  took  advan- 
tage of  the  scruple  which  forbade  the  Jews  to  fight  upon 
the  Sabbath,  and  took  the  city  by  surprise.  His  treatment 
of  the  Jews,  when  he  had  gained  possession  of  their  strong- 
hold, became  celebrated  for  its  clemency.  He  appreciated 
their  strong  fidelity  to  the  sovereign  they  acknowledged, 
a  rare  quality  in  those  troublous  times.  He  indeed  carried 
a  large  part  of  the  population  of  Jerusalem  into  captivity, 
but  it  was  to  settle  them  in  his  own  African  dominions. 
Some  he  employed  to  garrison  his  Egyptian  fortresses, 
some  he  established  in  Cyrene ;  but  the  greater  part  he 
retained  to  people  Alexandria. 

When  these  colonists  had  sworn  allegiance  to  himself  and 
to  his  dynasty,  Ptolemy  granted  them  a  very  favorable 


ALEXANDER    THE   GREAT.  89 

charter,  which  renewed  privileges  that  Alexander  had 
already  conferred  on  the  first  Jewish  settlers  in  Alexandria. 
By  it  they  were  to  enjoy  equal  privileges  with  the  Mace- 
donians ;  and  they  soon  found  themselves  so  well  off  in 
the  new  city  that  they  did  their  best  to  induce  other  Jews 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  liberality  of  Ptolemy.  Some 
families  of  priests  followed  the  stream,  though  their  posi- 
tion in  Alexandria  was  not  such  as  it  would  have  been  in 
Jerusalem. 

Distance  from  Palestine  put  no  stop  to  the  dissensions 
between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans.  The  latter  were 
very  jealous  of  the  superior  favor  shown  by  Macedonian 
rulers  to  their  rivals,  while  the  dispute  between  Mount 
Gerizim  and  Mount  Zion  continued  to  be  a  fruitful  source 
of  enmity. 

The  Jewish  colony  in  Alexandria  prospered  greatly.  The 
Jews  made  good  traders  and  trusty  domestics ;  they  were 
docile  and  industrious.  They  soon  learned  the  Greek 
tongue,  and  spoke  and  wrote  it  correctly.  "  The  regularity 
of  their  lives,  and  the  strictness  of  their  morals,"  says  M. 
Renan,  "  procured  them  situations  as  confidential  servants." 
They  made  excellent  clerks  and  secretaries,  and  were 
found  by  the  government  especially  useful  in  the  work 
of  administration. 

At  last,  in  301  B.C.,  the  two  greatest  kingdoms  founded  by 
the  successors  of  Alexander,  that  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt, 
and  that  of  the  Seleucidae  in  Syria,  found  themselves  firmly 
established.  Palestine  fell  to  the  share  of  Ptolemy,  and 
continued  in  his  family  for  about  one  hundred  years. 

The  Jews  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  their  lot.  Their 
Egyptian  sovereigns  were  in  general,  like  their  founder, 
enlightened  and  liberal.  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  during  his 
long  reign  showed  especial  favor  to  the  Israelites ;  so  like- 
wise did  his  successor,  Ptolemy  Euergetes.  It  was  a  pros- 
perous time  for  the  Jews,  though  in  the  wars  that  raged 
between  the  Ptolemies  of  Egypt  and  the  Seleucidae  of 
Syria,  their  country  was  frequently  trampled  under  foot  by 
the  march  of  Egyptian  or  Syrian  armies. 


90  JUDEA. 

About  the  year  300  B.C.  Antioch  began  to  offer  almost 
as  many  attractions  to  enterprising  Jews  as  Alexandria.  It 
was  the  capital  of  the  rival  kingdom  of  Syria.  There,  as  in 
Alexandria,  the  Jews  found  a  fit  field  for  their  commercial 
activity,  so  that  they  flocked  to  both  cities  in  crowds.  In 
Judea  it  was  hard  to  make  a  living.  Agriculture  yielded 
small  returns,  for  though  the  soil  was  fertile,  the  crops  were 
often  devastated  by  the  march  of  armies.  There  was  no 
commerce,  but  there  were  exactions  from  their  own  priests 
and  a  heavy  tribute  to  be  paid  to  foreigners.  Then  too 
the  yoke  of  the  Ceremonial  Law,  as  it  was  enforced  in 
Jerusalem,  became  daily  more  oppressive.  Judaism  there- 
fore firmly  planted  itself  in  Antioch,  and  prepared  the  way 
for  the  day  when  that  city  should  be  the  first  on  all  the 
earth  to  call  the  disciples  of  a  faith  evolved  from  Judaism 
by  the  name  of  Christians. 

The  Far  East  too,  which  had  been  paralyzed  almost  for 
a  century  by  the  shock  it  had  received  from  the  astound- 
ing career  of  the  young  Macedonian  conqueror,  was  begin- 
ning to  arouse  itself  and  to  shake  off  its  lethargy.  Persia, 
after  a  century  of  submission  to  the  Greeks,  threw  off  their 
yoke,  and  founded  a  new  dynasty,  —  the  Arsacidae.  But 
very  many  years  were  yet  to  pass  —  years  full  of  wars, 
rebellions,  conquests,  and  changes  of  dynasties  —  before 
Rome  at  last  gave  permanent  peace  to  the  Eastern 
World. 

Nevertheless,  under  Egyptian  rule  the  province  of  Judea 
flourished.  The  authority  of  the  chief-priest  was  ac- 
cepted by  all  classes  in  Jerusalem ;  and  the  high-priests 
of  that  period  —  Onias  I.,  Simeon  I.,  Eleazer,  Manasseh, 
and  Onias  II.  —  presided  over  their  nation  with  credit 
and  dignity. 

In  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  country  immediately  around 
the  Holy  City,  Greek  influence  was  weak,  but  elsewhere  in 
Palestine  it  was  active  and  strong,  —  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
maritime  cities,  and  especially  in  those  peopled  by  Alex- 
ander's veterans  beyond  the  Jordan.  These  expatriated 
soldiers  loved  to  call  the  new  places  of  their  abode  by  fa- 


ALEXANDER    THE    GREAT.  91 

miliar  names,  to  the  future  confusion  of  ancient  and  modern 
geography.  Many  places  in  Palestine  and  Syria  took  new 
names  to  flatter  royalty,  and  to  this  day  some  of  the  Turk- 
ish names  of  Syrian  cities  are  founded  upon  Greek  or 
Roman  nomenclature. 

About  this  time  —  that  is,  about  260  B.C.  —  Galilee, 
which  after  the  downfall  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  had 
seemed  lost  to  Judaism,  returned  to  the  national  faith ; 
"  and  that,  not  according  to  the  Samaritan  form,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  but  according  to  orthodox  worship  in 
Jerusalem  ;  so  that  that  city  became  the  religious  capital  of 
a  district  whose  inhabitants,  in  order  to  go  up  to  the 
Temple  at  the  time  of  the  great  feasts,  had  to  pass  through 
the  hostile  country  of  the  Samaritans."  * 

1  Renan. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    JEWS    IN    ALEXANDRIA. 

T^HE  wide  scattering  of  the  Jews,  after  the  downfall  of 
•*•  the  Persian  Empire,  into  all  regions  where,  under 
Alexander  and  his  successors,  civilization  and  prosperity 
had  spread,  is  called  the  Dispora,  or  the  Dispersion.  It 
prepared  the  way  for  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles.  It 
facilitated  the  future  spread  of  Christianity.  Jews  flocked 
into  countries  to  the  north  and  east  of  Babylonia,  they 
penetrated  into  India  and  China,  they  colonized  the  banks 
of  the  Caspian  and  the  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  but  so  long 
as  the  Temple  and  its  sacrificial  services  remained  the 
outward  and  visible  rallying-point  for  their  nationality  and 
their  religion,  the  Jews  of  the  East  never  severed  their 
connection  with  Jerusalem.  So  late  as  the  spring  of  A.U.  70, 
crowds  of  pilgrims  from  the  Orient  came  up  to  take  part 
in  the  last  Feast  of  the  Passover,  and  perished  by  slaughter 
during  the  last  days  of  the  siege.  But  devotion  to  the 
Holy  City  was  less  felt  by  the  Jews  of  Alexandria.  These 
concerned  themselves  much  less  than  did  their  brethren 
of  the  East  with  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  The  visions 
of  the  prophets  about  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  wide  as  the 
world,  a  worship  "  in  spirit  and  in  truth  "  was  their  ideal. 
They  wanted  to  make  proselytes  among  their  heathen 
associates.  Their  system  of  religion  was  not  that  prescribed 
by  Ezra. 

Without  altogether  giving  up  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem, 
or  neglecting  to  make  offerings  to  the  Temple  treasury, 
the  Jews  of  Alexandria,  and  those  who  had  established 
themselves  in  other  cities  founded  by  Greek  conquerors, 
gradually  relaxed  a  strict  observance  of  ritual.  Without 


THE  JEWS  IN  ALEXANDRIA.  93 

binding  themselves  to  accept  all  the  additions  to  the  Law 
made  by  tradition,  they  conceived  it  possible  to  remain 
faithful  to  their  religion  and  their  nationality  by  observing 
the  Law  of  Moses,  without  the  system  of  sacrifices.  But 
they  felt  in  their  dispersion  the  need  of  fellowship  and 
public  worship. 

About  this  time  (say  200  years  before  the  Christian  era) 
religious  clubs  and  brotherhoods  were  established  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  Jews  of  the  Dispersion 
caught  up  the  idea.  They  had  places  set  apart  for  prayer, 
generally  in  orchards,  or  on  the  bank  of  some  water-course. 
Saint  Paul  speaks  of  such  a  place  at  Lydda  by  the  water- 
side, "  where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made." 

Soon  instruction,  beginning  with  catechetical  teaching 
for  the  children,  was  established.  After  that  they  had 
reading  and  exposition  of  the  Law,  and  then  came  the 
establishment  of  the  synagogue.  The  open-air  places 
of  assemblage  were  called  proseuchce.  Sometimes  their 
worship  was  held  in  an  upper  chamber. 

In  Ezekiel's  time  the  Jews  upon  the  banks  of  the  river 
Chebar  assembled  round  him  in  his  own  house  to  hear  him 
read  the  Law  of  God  and  deliver  his  prophecies,  but  the  syn- 
agogue system  had  its  birth,  not  in  Babylonia  or  Judea,  but 
in  Egypt,  and  from  it  were  evolved  our  Christian  churches. 

In  imitation  of  the  Roman  collegia  and  the  religious 
brotherhoods  of  the  Greeks,  the  synagogue  soon  became 
in  some  sort  a  Jewish  club-house.  There  the  Jews  re- 
ceived men  of  their  own  faith  from  distant  lands,  and  there 
they  extended  to  them  the  hand  of  brotherhood.  In  the 
synagogue  strangers  made  new  acquaintances,  and  received 
news  of  absent  friends  ;  for  the  synagogues  corresponded 
with  one  another,  and  exchanged  letters  of  recommendation. 

On  the  Sabbath  Day  the  Law  (that  is,  the  first  five  books 
of  the  Old  Testament)  was  read  aloud  in  Hebrew,  the 
reading  being  done  by  lay-members  of  the  synagogue  in 
turn.  When  read  in  Hebrew,  another  assistant  translated 
what  had  been  read  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  —  Aramean  or 
Greek  as  the  case  might  be  ;  after  which  "  the  ruler  of  the 


94  JUDEA. 

synagogue  "  called  upon  some  man  in  the  congregation  of 
more  authority  than  the  rest,  to  comment  upon  the  portion 
of  Scripture  that  had  been  just  read,  or  in  the  language  of 
our  own  day,  to  preach  a  sermon.  Philo  has  preserved 
for  us  some  specimens  of  the  addresses  and  interpretations 
of  Scripture  thus  offered  in  the  synagogue  of  Alexandria. 
They  are  for  the  most  part  dogmatic  and  full  of  bewilder- 
ing subtleties,  but  they  also  show  a  high  standard  of  good 
feeling  and  morality. 

Public  worship  unaccompanied  by  sacrifices  originated 
in  these  Alexandrian  synagogues  ;  so  did  our  Sunday-schools ; 
so  did  the  church  catechizing  of  Christian  children.  A 
man  ignorant  of  his  religion  was  despised  among  the  Jews. 

The  rule  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt  was  more  favorable 
to  religious  freedom  than  the  subsequent  rule  of  the  Roman 
emperors.  Under  the  Macedonian  dynasty  in  Alexandria, 
different  religious  bodies  lived  happy  and  unmolested,  as  is 
to-day  the  case  under  British  rule  in  India. 

The  Jews  in  Alexandria  soon  ceased  to  converse  in 
either  Aramean  or  Hebrew,  although  the  latter  was  held 
to  be  the  language  of  religion,  and  was  carefully  studied  by 
priests  and  scribes.  The  people  rapidly  adopted  Greek  as 
their  common  tongue,  and  with  a  knowledge  of  Greek  came 
also  some  appreciation  of  Greek  learning  and  literature. 
The  Pentateuch,  or  the  Five  Rolls  of  Scripture,  namely, 
Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deuteronomy 
(books  that  received  their  present  names  from  the  Jews 
of  Alexandria),  were  the  only  part  of  our  own  Bible  at  first 
read  in  the  synagogues,  but  before  long  the  prophetical 
books  completed  the  public  service. 

Everywhere  the  Jews  built  synagogues,  not  poor  little 
buildings  like  those  in  which  Jesus  preached  in  Galilee, 
but  structures  which  even  in  those  days  of  splendid  archi- 
tecture, were,  in  some  cases,  almost  the  wonder  of  the 
world.  The  synagogue  in  Alexandria,  which  survived 
Herod's  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  was  destroyed  by  the  Romans 
in  the  days  of  Trajan  during  a  passionate  outbreak  of  fury 
against  the  Jews. 


THE  JEWS  IN  ALEXANDRIA.  95 

Those  who  have  left  us  an  account  of  this  synagogue 
describe  it  as  having  been  a  masterpiece  of  Egypto- Grecian 
architecture.  Each  trade,  profession,  and  corporation 
occupied  its  own  portion  of  the  synagogue  under  its  own 
banner,  so  that  every  stranger  could  at  once  find  his  place, 
and  associate  himself  with  his  fellows.  The  building  was  so 
vast  that  an  especial  officer  was  appointed  to  give  signs,  by 
waving  a  banner  during  the  service,  for  the  responses  of  the 
congregation. 

The  need  of  an  accepted  translation  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  into  Greek  soon  became  felt  among  the  Jews  of 
Alexandria.  The  popular  story  concerning  this  translation 
is  entirely  rejected  by  M.  Renan,  who  thinks  the  Septuagint 
was  merely  a  collection  of  rough,  impromptu  translations 
made  in  the  synagogue,  by  men  who  had  no  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  Hebrew  language.  These  men,  desirous  to 
present  their  scriptures  to  the  Greeks  in  a  credible  and 
creditable  form,  adopted  a  number  of  petty  modifications 
to  suit  the  sacred  books  to  the  Greek  taste. 

"  Nevertheless,"  adds  M.  Renan,  "  this  Alexandrine 
translation  of  the  Bible  is  one  of  the  most  important  events 
in  history.  It  was  the  Bible  of  infant  Christianity ;  it  was 
in  one  sense  the  Bible  of  mankind,  for  the  Latin  Bible 
proceeded  from  it,  and  Saint  Jerome  himself  only  in  part 
supplied  its  place.  .  .  .  Whosoever  translated  the  Septuagint 
merits  the  highest  gratitude  of  humanity.  He  divined  the 
loftiest  truth  in  history,  namely,  that  Hebrew  genius  would 
conquer  the  whole  world  through  the  Greek  tongue." 

The  popular  legend  of  the  translation  of  the  Septuagint 
is  false  and  absurd  for  the  most  part,  but  it  need  not  here 
be  omitted  on  that  account,  and  I  give  it  in  the  language  of 
Dean  Stanley.1 

"  It  was,  "  he  says,  "  believed  two  centuries  after  the  trans- 
lation was  made,  and  now,  however  much  the  details  of  the 
story  have  been  shaken  by  recent  criticism,  the  main  fact 
is  not  doubted,  that  in  the  reign  of  the  second  Ptolemy  the 
translation  of  the  Pentateuch  into  Greek  was  undertaken  at 

1  Stanley's  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  vol.  iii.,  lecture  47. 


96  JUDEA. 

Alexandria.  The  story  took  two  forms.  One  was  that 
King  Ptolemy  Philadelphia,  wishing  to  discover  the  differ- 
ence between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  summoned  five 
translators,  three  representing  the  Samaritans,  one  the  Jews, 
and  one  assessor.  The  Samaritans  undertook  the  Penta- 
teuch, the  Jew  the  later  books ;  and  Ptolemy  approved  the 
Samaritan  version.  But  the  story  as  told  by  Josephus  (and 
as  it  may  be  found  in  the  Babylonian  Talmud)  and  as  it  was 
accepted  in  all  good  faith  in  the  uncritical  middle  ages,  is 
that  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  resolved  to  enrich  his  new 
library  by  so  important  a  treasure  as  an  intelligible  version 
of  the  sacred  books  of  so  large  a  portion  of  his  subjects,  sent 
to  the  high-priest  at  Jerusalem  for  translators.  Seventy-two 
were  despatched  to  him,  six  from  each  of  the  Twelve 
Tribes ;  or  seventy-two  as  corresponding  with  the  num- 
ber of  the  Sanhedrim  ;  or  seventy-two  possibly  in  accord- 
ance with  the  mystic  number  which  pervades  this  and  other 
Eastern  tales.  A  long  catalogue  existed  of  the  splendid 
tables,  cisterns,  and  bowls,  which  Josephus  describes  as  if 
he  had  seen  them,  and  which  are  said  to  have  been  sent  at 
this  time  by  Ptolemy  as  presents  to  the  high-priest,  to  win 
his  assistance.  A  local  tradition  long  pointed  out  the 
Island  of  Pharos  as  the  scene  of  the  translators'  labors. 
There  it  was  believed  that  they  pursued  their  work,  with- 
drawn in  that  sea-girt  fortress  from  the  turmoil  of  the  streets 
of  Alexandria,  and  with  the  opportunity  of  performing  every 
morning  their  religious  ablutions  in  the  sea  which  washed 
their  threshold,  on  the  shore  of  which,  as  late  as  the  second 
century  of  our  era,  Justin  Martyr  was  shown  the  remains  of 
the  seventy  (or,  according  to  some,  the  thirty-six)  cells  in 
which  the  translators  had  been  lodged,  and  in  which 
(so  Alexandrine  tradition  maintained)  each  produced 
by  miracle  the  same  inspired  version  as  the  rest,  without  one 
error  or  contradiction." 

After  this,  when  any  important  book  appeared  in  Palestine, 
it  reappeared  shortly  after  in  a  Greek  dress  in  Alexandria. 

The  Greek  version  of  the  Bible  had  great  success.  From 
Egypt  it  found  its  way  into  Syria,  and  even  into  Palestine. 


THE  JEWS  IN  ALEXANDRIA.  97 

It  was  the  Bible  of  Philo,  of  Josephus,  of  Saint  Paul,  and  of 
the  early  Christians.  The  Jews  were  for  a  long  time  justly 
proud  of  it,  but  at  length  its  adoption  by  Christians  as  a 
correct  rendering  of  the  Word  of  God,  excited  their  ani- 
mosity. What  once  they  had  admired,  they  pronounced  to 
be  a  perversion  of  Scripture,  and  at  length,  after  the  Tal- 
mudic  period  set  in,  Jews  gave  up  the  use  of  the  Septuagint, 
and  it  seemed  to  go  quite  out  of  their  remembrance.1 

During  a  century  and  more  of  peace  in  Alexandria, 
Oriental  literature  gained  much  influence  over  the  Greeks. 
The  Jews  were  favorably  regarded  by  the  authorities.  In 
the  various  quarrels  that  took  place  in  Syria  between  the 
Lagidse  and  the  Seleucidse,  they  took  the  side  of  the  former, 
and  when  any  of  the  Ptolemies  gained  an  advantage  over 
the  Syrian  kings,  the  Jews  looked  on  the  Egyptian  success 
as  a  victory  in  the  cause  of  order  and  legitimacy. 

About  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ,  the 
Jews  of  Alexandria,  inspired  with  a  spirit  of  emulation 
natural  in  an  intelligent  people  living  in  an  exceptionally 
intellectual  city,  began  to  write  Greek  in  imitation  of  Greek 
writers.  They  had  no  great  knowledge  of  Greek  mythol- 
ogy, but  it  pleased  them  to  adapt  the  history  of  Abraham 
to  the  legend  of  Orpheus.  There  is  a  long  list  of  Jewish 
writers  who  attempted  literature  of  this  kind.  Abraham 
was  made  to  teach  astrology  to  King  Pharaoh ;  Joseph 
rendered  services  of  the  same  kind  to  his  patron ;  the 
grandest  temples  of  Egypt  were  built  by  the  sons  of  Jacob. 
All  the  mysteries  of  Egyptian  worship  originated  with 
Moses.  He  invented  navigation,  architecture,  military 
science,  and  philosophy,  he  taught  the  Egyptians  to 
honor  God ;  he  invented  hieroglyphics,  —  and  so  on. 

Some  of  these  fables  were  written  in  hexameters  and 
were  made  into  a  drama.  Jewish  writers  composed  treatises 
to  prove  that  the  Jews  had  been  mentioned  with  honor  by 
old  classical  Greek  writers,  nor  did  they  hesitate  to  man- 
ufacture extracts  from  ancient  Greek  authors  to  back  up 
their  assertions. 

1  Cf.  Renan. 
7 


98  JUDEA. 

M.  Renan,  in  his  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  has  a 
chapter  on  the  writings  of  the  Alexandrine  Jews  at  this 
period,  in  which  they  laboriously  endeavored  to  reconcile 
the  Jewish  Scriptures  with  Greek  taste  and  Greek  ideas  ; 
explaining  away  many  passages  of  Holy  Writ,  and  treat- 
ing events  therein  recorded  as  symbolical. 

Absurd  as  this  may  seem,  it  was  the  outcome  of  that  glori- 
ous idea,  which  they  had  derived  from  the  teaching  of 
their  prophets,  but  which  the  Jewish  nation  in  its  own  land 
laid  aside  after  its  return  from  Babylon.  I  mean  the  idea 
that  all  nations  would  at  last  be  brought  to  honor  the  Jews 
and  to  worship  Jehovah. 

Among  the  dispersed  Jews,  therefore,  appeared  a  chari- 
table desire  to  bring  those  with  whom  they  associated  to 
participation  in  the  blessings  they  themselves  enjoyed ; 
they  looked  upon  themselves,  in  the  midst  of  the  people 
among  whom  they  were  dispersed,  as  "  dew  from  the 
Lord."  1  They  asked  themselves  the  question  :  "  Since  the 
God  of  the  Jews  is  the  true  God,  why  should  not  Judaism 
be  the  religion  of  all  men?  " 

For  those  who  held  this  view  it  became  a  point  of  honor 
and  humanity  to  reconcile  learned  Greeks  to  the  Jewish 
Scriptures  ;  to  soften  those  points  which  might  seem  "  to 
the  Greeks  foolishness ;  "  to  make  out  if  possible  a  connec- 
tion between  Greek  legends  and  events  recorded  in  the 
Old  Testament. 

But  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  reconcile  Jewish  beliefs  with 
Greek  philosophy  and  mythology,  men  of  learning  disliked 
Judaism.  It  was  not  the  learned,  the  rich,  and  the  power- 
ful who  two  centuries  and  a  half  later  lent  in  the  Greek 
cities  of  Asia  a  willing  ear  to  the  preaching  of  Saint  Paul, 
but  people  of  the  middle  classes.  Such  people,  in  the  days 
of  which  I  write,  were  few  in  number.  Society  in  Greek 
colonies  in  the  East  was  for  the  most  part  composed  of 
rich  men  and  their  slaves.  "  The  world,"  says  M.  Renan, 

1  And  the  remnant  of  Jacob  shall  be  in  the  midst  of  many  people 
as  a  dew  from  the  Lord,  as  the  showers  upon  the  grass,  that  tarrieth 
not  for  men,  nor  waiteth  for  the  sons  of  men.  —  MICAH  v.  7. 


THE  JEWS  IN  ALEXANDRIA.  99 

"  needed  that  top-dressing  of  democracy,  which,  under 
Roman  rule  was  to  fertilize  the  earth  and  prepare  it  for  the 
reception  of  Christianity." 

In  order  to  carry  on  a  Jewish  propaganda  among  pagans, 
the  strict  religious  observances  binding  upon  Jews  had  to 
be  simplified.  The  obligations  of  the  Law  as  applied  to 
Gentile  converts  were  reduced  to  what  were  beginning  to  be 
called  "  the  Precepts  of  Noah,  "  —  that  is,  precepts  of 
natural  morality,  with  the  addition  of  the  observance  of  a 
few  points  of  the  Law  such  as  in  the  first  council  of  the 
Christian  Church  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  directed  to  en- 
force upon  their  converts  in  the  cities  of  Asia. 

The  position  of  the  Jews  in  Alexandria  in  regard  to  the 
Gentile  world  around  them  was  wholly  different  from  that 
of  their  brethren  in  Jerusalem.  "  The  idea  of  winning  over 
an  unbeliever  to  the  Jewish  faith  by  facilitating  his  admis- 
sion into  fellowship,  and  mitigating  for  his  sake  the  rigor- 
ous observance  of  the  law,  would  have  seemed  monstrous  in 
Judea.  In  Egypt  it  made  headway  in  many  directions."  1 
1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PRIEST   AND   PUBLICAN. 

WE  turn  now  from  the  Macedonian  kingdom  set  up  by 
the  Lagidse  in  Egypt  to  the  Macedonian  kingdom 
set  up  by  Seleucus  in  Asia  Minor. 

For  many  years  Judea  was  in  much  the  same  position 
as  Bulgaria  before  the  Berlin  Congress  in  1878.  It 
was  a  strip  of  country  lying  between  two  rival  nations, 
—  their  battle-ground,  and  by  turns  the  prize  of  the 
conqueror. 

The  fluctuations  of  defeat  and  success  (from  323  to  198 
B.C.)  between  the  two  rival  Macedonian  dynasties  which 
divided  the  Persian  Empire  of  the  East  between  them,  may 
be  historically  valuable  to  the  student,  but  to  the  ordinary 
reader  they  are  uninteresting  and  bewildering.  The  armies 
of  both  sides  were  largely  composed  of  mercenaries,  for 
about  this  time  the  Gauls  made  their  appearance  in  Asia 
Minor,  and  were  employed  by  the  King  of  Syria,  Antiochus 
Hierax  (or  the  Hawk).  Their  hordes,  which  originally 
came  from  what  is  now  France,  conquered  northern  Italy, 
and  burned  Rome.  A  large  body  of  them  penetrated 
through  Illyria  into  Macedonia,  devastated  what  are  now  the 
Balkan  Provinces,  and  invaded  Greece.  Repulsed,  however, 
by  the  inhabitants  of  that  land,  they  retreated  into  Thrace, 
and  there  established  a  kingdom.  "  But  finding  that  their 
limits  were  too  narrow,  they  invaded  Asia,  where  they  seized, 
desolated,  and  then  abandoned  entire  provinces,  laid  the 
richest  territories  under  contribution,  and  interfered  with  a 
high  hand  in  the  affairs  of  Syria.  Merciless  to  their  enemies 
and  treacherous  to  their  allies,  they  often  sold  their  troops 
to  rival  powers,  easily  quitted  one  service  for  another,  and 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  101 

in  all  this  infamous  traffic  of  blood,  invariably  preferred  to 
fight  for  the  highest  bidder."  l 

The  Gauls  were  not  uniformly  successful.  On  more  than 
one  occasion  they  suffered  defeat.  Their  worst  repulse  was 
when  they  followed  the  standard  of  Antiochus  the  Hawk 
into  Babylonia  with  the  intention  of  plundering  its  richest 
provinces.  But  the  inhabitants  were  roused  to  fury.  They 
raised  an  army  of  eight  thousand  Babylonian  Jews,  and  four 
thousand  Macedonian  soldiers.  The  army  of  Antiochus 
was  utterly  routed,  the  Gauls  were  dispersed,  and  Antiochus 
Hierax  sought  refuge  in  Egypt,  where  he  was  detained  as  a 
captive.  He  escaped,  however,  and  as  he  passed  through 
the  country  of  the  Arabs  he  was  slain.  The  Gauls  retired 
into  Galatia,  where  they  established  themselves,  gave  their 
name  to  the  district,  and  continued  to  furnish  mercenary 
troops  to  whosoever  would  employ  them. 

In  Jewish  history  of  this  period  two  characters  stand  out 
in  something  like  high  relief, — the  high- priest  Simon  and 
his  grandson.  Some  account  of  them  both  may  enable  us 
to  follow  the  course  of  historical  events  without  having  too 
much  to  do  with  the  battles,  murders,  and  sudden  deaths  by 
parricide  and  fratricide  which  after  247  B.C.  (the  date  of  the 
death  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus)  disfigure  every  page  that 
records  the  history  of  the  Seleucidse  of  Antioch,  and  the 
Lagidse  of  Alexandria. 

The  two  characters  on  which  I  propose  to  dwell  in  this 
chapter,  are  the  high-priest  Simon  the  Just,  and  his  grand- 
son Joseph  ben  Tobiah,  who  was  made  fiscal  agent  or  tax 
collector  for  all  Coele-Syria  by  Ptolemy  Euergetes ;  an 
office  which  he  held,  notwithstanding  the  deep  hatred  felt 
for  him  by  the  people  he  oppressed,  for  twenty-two  years. 

Simon  the  Just  was  the  third  high-priest  in  descent  from 
Jaddua.  "  He  was,"  says  Graetz,  "  the  one  high-priest  of 
the  house  of  Joshua  the  son  of  Josadak  of  whom  there  is 
anything  laudatory  to  be  related,  and  the  one  to  restore 
the  priesthood  to  honor." 

There  is  some  little  confusion  about  his  exact  date,  but  it 
1  Rabbi  Morris  Raphall,  Post-Biblical  History  of  the  Jews. 


IO2  JUDEA. 

seems  now  generally  conceded  by  historians  that  he  gov- 
erned Jerusalem  from  about  300  B.C.  to  270  B.C.  The 
record  of  his  rule  was :  "  He  cared  for  his  nation,  to  save  it 
from  falling." 

During  the  rule  of  the  Ptolemies  the  Jewish  people,  so  far 
as  the  foreign  government  went,  were  left  in  peace  to  be  gov- 
erned by  their  own  high-priest  and  his  council.  It  was  as 
their  chief  ruler  that  the  high-priest  was  charged  by  the 
kings  of  Egypt  to  collect  and  pay  over  the  tribute  money, 
and  the  sum  exacted  does  not  seem  to  have  been  excessive. 
But  during  the  wars  between  Egypt  and  Syria  the  condition 
of  Palestine,  lying  as  it  did  between  the  two  contending 
nations,  was  often  distressing  in  the  extreme.  A  great  object 
with  both  parties  was  to  make  slaves,  who  brought  a  good 
price  in  the  slave  markets  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;  and  thus  Western  cities  were  fecundated  by  Juda- 
ism in  preparation  for  the  days  that  were  to  come. 

As  history  in  after  days  told  the  Jews  far  less  about  Simon 
the  Just  than  they  desired  to  know,  legend  was  called  in  to 
fill  the  void  and  satisfy  the  popular  yearning.  The  red 
thread  tied  round  the  neck  of  the  scape-goat  was  said  every 
year  to  grow  white  when  his  hand  was  laid  on  it.  The  great 
Lamp  of  the  Temple  in  his  time  never  went  out,  nor  did 
the  fire  ever  die  down  on  the  altar.  Each  year  the  white- 
robed  figure  of  an  old  man  appeared  to  him  as  on  the  Day 
of  Atonement  he  entered  the  Holy  of  Holies ;  and  when  at 
last  it  stood  beside  him  clothed  in  black,  he  knew  that  the 
hour  of  his  death  had  come. 

He  rebuilt  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  and  renovated  the 
Temple.  He  also  busied  himself  with  improvements  that 
might  promote  the  safety  and  comfort  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Jerusalem.  The  supply  of  water  being  insufficient  in  dry 
seasons,  he  caused  an  immense  reservoir  to  be  constructed 
under  the  Temple,  and  by  underground  passages  brought 
water  into  it  from  springs  beyond  the  walls. 

He  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  the  last  member  of  the 
Great  Synagogue  ;  not  that  there  ever  was  any  such  syna- 
gogue, but  the  name  was  applied  to  those  doctors  of  the 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  103 

Law  who  succeeded  Ezra  as  teachers,  transcribers,  and  ex- 
pounders of  the  Law. 

Simon  was,  however,  opposed  to  a  too  rigid  ceremonialism  ; 
instances  are  on  record  of  his  interference  to  prevent  an 
over-zealous  adherence  to  ritualism. 

His  favorite  saying  was  that  the  Law,  Worship,  and 
Charity  were  the  three  pillars  on  which  was  founded  the 
religious  world. 

When  he  died  the  presidency  of  the  Council  of  Seventy 
did  not  descend  to  the  high-priest  who  succeeded  him.  It 
was  given  to  his  favorite  disciple,  Antigonus  of  Socho,  the 
first  Jew  of  distinction  who  bore  a  Greek  name.  But  he 
was  far  from  being  a  Hellenist,  though  the  Jews  say  he  was 
the  founder  of  that  Oral  Law  by  which  in  after  years  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  made  the  Written  Law  of  no  effect  by 
a  system  of  traditions.  He  was  the  instructor  of  Zadok, 
who  gave  his  name  to  the  sect  of  the  Sadducees  ;  and  from 
an  admirable  saying  attributed  to  him  the  Sadducees  are 
thought  to  have  deduced  their  tenet  that  there  were  to  be 
no  future  rewards  or  punishments.  "  Be  not, "  he  said, 
"  like  servants  who  serve  their  Lord  for  the  sake  of  reward, 
but  like  servants  who  serve  without  thought  of  reward ;  and 
the  fear  of  Heaven  be  over  you." 

But  the  most  glowing  tribute  to  the  character  and  priestly 
dignity  of  Simon  the  Just  must  be  sought  for  in  Ecclesias- 
ticus,  wherein  the  Son  of  Sirach  speaks  thus  of  the  majesty 
with  which  he  exercised  his  priestly  functions  : 

"  How  was  he  honored  in  the  midst  of  his  people 

In  his  coming  out  of  the  sanctuary! 
He  was  as  the  morning-star  coming  out  of  a  cloud, 

And  as  the  moon  at  the  full : 
As  the  sun  shining  on  the  Temple  of  the  Most  High, 

And  as  the  rainbow  making  light  in  the  dark  cloud. 

He  was  as  a  fair  olive-tree  budding  with  fruit, 

And  as  a  cypress-tree  which  groweth  up  to  the  clouds, 

When  he  put  on  his  robe  of  honor 

And  was  clothed  with  the  perfection  of  glory. 


104  JUDEA. 

He  stood  compassed  by  his  brethren  round  about, 

As  a  young  cedar  in  Lebanon. 
As  palm  trees  compassing  him  round  about, 

Were  the  sons  of  Aaron  in  their  glory, 
Holding  the  oblations  of  the  Lord  in  their  hands 

Before  all  the  congregation  of  Israel. 
Then,  finishing  the  service  of  the  Altar, 

That  he  might  adorn  the  service  of  the  Most  High  —  the 

Almighty, 
He  stretched  out  his  hand  to  the  cup 

And  poured  out  the  blood  of  the  grape. 
He  poured  out  at  the  foot  of  the  Altar  a  sweet-smelling  savor 

Unto  the  most  high  King  of  all. 
Then  shouted  the  sons  of  Aaron 

And  sounded  the  silver  trumpets, 
And  made  a  great  noise  to  be  heard 

For  a  remembrance  before  the  Most  High. 
Then  all  the  people  together  hasted 

And  fell  down  to  the  earth  upon  their  faces, 
To  worship  the  Lord  God  Almighty, 

Imploring  the  Most  High. 
The  singers  also  sang  praises  with  their  voices, 

With  a  great  variety  of  sounds  was  made  great  melody  ; 
And  the  people  besought  the  Lord  Most  High 

By  prayer  before  Him  that  is  merciful, 
Till  the  solemnity  of  the  Lord  was  ended 

And  they  had  finished  His  service. 
Then  he  went  down  and  lifted  up  his  hands 

Over  the  whole  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
To  give  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  with  his  lips 

And  to  glorify  and  rejoice  in  His  name. 
And  they  bowed  themselves  down  to  worship  a  second  time 

That  they  might  receive  a  blessing  from  the  Most  High."  1 

This  is  a  most  beautiful  description  of  public  worship  in 
the  Temple  on  the  Great  Day  of  Atonement,  written  evi- 
dently by  an  eye-witness  —  a  contemporary  of  the  high- 
priest  Simon.  But  the  son  of  Sirach  is  not  often  poetical. 
His  book  is  a  book  of  worldly  maxims  written  in  imitation 
of  the  ancient  books  Ecclesiastes  and  Proverbs.  It  is 
addressed  to  that  middle  class  in  the  Jewish  Church  who 
stood  between  the  Chasidim  and  the  Hellenists.  The 

1  Authorized  English  version  of  the  Apocrypha,  Ecclesiasticus  1. 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  1 05 

Hebrew  text  is  lost.  A  grandson  of  the  author  translated 
it  into  Greek  about  130  B.C.,  but  there  is  a  Syriac  version, 
also  translated  from  the  Hebrew,  which  scholars  consider 
much  better  than  the  Greek. 

"  The  wisdom  of  the  son  of  Sirach,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  is 
after  the  pattern  of  Dr.  Franklin's  in  '  Poor  Richard.'  "  The 
book  contains  no  spiritual  aspirations.  Nevertheless,  it  has 
been  admitted  among  the  canonical  books  of  Scripture  by 
a  large  part  of  Christendom.  It  had  immense  popularity  in 
the  middle  ages,  and  was  exalted  to  be  the  popular  man- 
ual of  Christian  instruction.  To  this  day  week-day  lessons 
are  read  from  it  in  the  Daily  Service  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  in  that  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of 
America,  though  it  is  placed  in  the  Apocrypha. 

"The  ideal  good  man  of  the  Son  of  Sirach,"  says  M. 
Renan,  "  is  realized  at  this  day  in  any  rigorous  Mussulman 
village.  He  is  grave  in  his  carriage,  careful  above  all  to 
preserve  his  respectability,  clean  in  his  person,  sensitive  as 
to  his  reputation,  visiting  none  but  people  as  punctilious  as 
himself,  paying  great  attention  to  his  guests,  —  a  man  of 
moderate  opinions,  and  of  minute  ideas." 

Simon  the  Just  left  behind  him  two  children,  a  son  Onias, 
too  young  to  exercise  the  functions  either  of  a  pontiff  or  a 
ruler,  and  a  daughter  married  to  one  Tobiah,  who  was  of 
priestly  lineage,  but  who  appears  to  have  had  some  con- 
nection by  kinship  or  otherwise  with  the  Samaritans. 

Two  men,  Eleazar  and  Manasseh,  of  whom  nothing  is 
known  in  history,  officiated  as  high-priests  until,  in  250 
B.C.,  Onias  II.  assumed  his  legitimate  position. 

Tobiah  and  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Simon,  had  a  son 
named  Joseph,  a  clever,  bold,  ambitious  man.  The  king 
of  Egypt  (at  this  time  sovereign  of  Judea)  was  Ptolemy 
Euergetes  who  had  been  so  much  absorbed  by  schemes  of 
conquest  in  the  Far  East,  and  subsequently  by  fruitless  ex- 
peditions into  the  Soudan,  that  he  showed  wonderful  indif- 
ference to  the  affairs  of  provinces  that  lay  nearer  home. 
In  Judea  he  suffered  the  high-priests,  whose  duty  to  their 
suzerain  it  was  to  collect  and  pay  over  the  tribute  money, 


106  JUDEA. 

to  evade  such  payment  for  more  than  twenty  years,  until 
the  sum  due  had  reached  an  amount  nearly  equal  to  half 
a  million  dollars.  At  length  he  sent  one  of  his  favorite 
officers  to  Jerusalem  to  demand  payment  of  the  arrears 
and  to  make  arrangements  for  more  punctual  payments  in 
future ;  otherwise,  Athenion,  the  envoy,  was  to  threaten 
that  his  master  would  confiscate  all  the  lands  in  Judea,  and 
send  a  military  colony  to  occupy  the  country. 

The  people  were  in  despair.  They  vehemently  urged 
Onias  to  pay  the  debt,  and  save  them  from  ruin.  But 
Onias  firmly  refused  to  yield.  Some  accused  him  of 
avarice,  and  said  that  his  money-bags  were  dearer  to  him 
than  the  welfare  of  his  countrymen ;  some  suspected  him  of 
an  understanding  with  the  rival  of  Ptolemy  —  the  Syrian  king. 

In  this  emergency  the  high-priest's  nephew,  Joseph  ben 
Tobiah,  grandson  of  Simon  the  Just,  succeeded  in  persuad- 
ing his  uncle  to  let  him  go  to  the  court  of  the  Egyptian 
king,  and  see  what  he  could  do  to  bring  about  an 
accommodation. 

He  began  by  making  his  society  very  acceptable  to 
Athenion,  whom  he  entertained  with  great  magnificence. 
Before  starting  for  Egypt  he  raised  large  sums  from  friends 
or  connections  in  Samaria,  with  which  he  procured  himself 
a  splendid  retinue,  and  entered  Egypt  in  almost  regal  state. 
Ptolemy  Euergetes  had  been  prepared  by  Athenion  to  see 
in  this  magnificent  personage  a  most  agreeable  and  accom- 
plished social  companion.  Joseph  was  daily  invited  to  the 
table  of  the  king.  He  had  Greek  tastes,  Greek  learning, 
and  Greek  manners.  His  social  qualities  made  his  society 
most  acceptable  to  King  Ptolemy,  whom  he  so  influenced 
that  in  some  way  he  contrived  to  effect  a  compromise,  and 
to  obtain  for  himself  a  position  of  great  trust,  that  of  tax- 
gatherer  in  Ccele-Syria  and  Phoenicia,  together  with  the 
duty  of  yearly  paying  over  the  tribute  to  the  king. 

Euergetes  gave  his  new  favorite  the  command  of  two 
thousand  soldiers  to  assist  him  in  his  work,  so  that  virtually 
he  was  soon  governor  over  all  the  districts  comprised  in 
what  we  now  call  Palestine. 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  IO/ 

Joseph  exercised  his  power  with  great  severity.  He  was 
particularly  hard  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  Greek  cities. 
At  Gaza  and  Scythopolis  (or  Beth-shean),  where  he  was 
ill-received,  he  revenged  himself  by  beheading  the  princi- 
pal inhabitants,  and  confiscating  their  property.  His  ex- 
actions were  so  notorious  that  it  was  said  of  him,  even  in 
the  court  of  Egypt,  "Joseph  is  stripping  the  flesh  off  of 
Syria,  and  will  leave  nothing  but  the  bones." 

Ptolemy  Euergetes  was  murdered  in  222  B.C.  by  his  son, 
Ptolemy  Philopater  (the  lover  of  his  father),  a  name  we 
might  suppose  to  have  been  given  him  in  irony.  He  com- 
pleted the  atrocity  by  murdering  his  mother  and  his 
brother,  being  no  better  than  other  rulers  who  'have  gov- 
erned Egypt  until  that  unhappy  country  came  under  the 
sway  of  the  English  in  our  own  day. 

Philopater  was  soon  involved  in  a  fierce  quarrel  with 
young  Antiochus  of  Syria,  known  afterwards  in  history  as 
Antiochus  the  Great. 

In  the  year  217  B.C.  Antiochus  with  a  large  army  landed 
on  the  sea-coast  of  Palestine,  near  Gaza.  Philopater,  who 
was  a  sensualist  and  a  debauchee,  roused  himself  from  his 
lethargy,  and  fought  a  battle  with  his  rival  at  Raphia,  where 
he  totally  routed  Antiochus,  who  was  forced  to  retire  to 
Antioch,  and  give  up  such  conquests  as  he  had  made  in 
Ccele-Syria. 

But  though  Ptolemy  thus  secured  the  allegiance  of  terri- 
tories that  had  been  rent  from  him  by  Antiochus,  he  lost 
the  hearty  loyalty  felt  for  his  predecessors  by  the  Jews. 
Before  his  return  to  Egypt  he  visited  Jerusalem.  He 
brought  gifts  to  the  Temple,  and  might  have  offered  sacri- 
fices to  Jehovah  in  its  outer  courts  as  other  heathen  sover- 
eigns had  done,  but,  in  spite  of  all  remonstrances,  he 
insisted  on  entering  the  Holy  of  Holies.  In  vain  the  high- 
priest  and  his  assistants  assured  him  that  no  man  entered 
that  sanctuary  but  the  high  priest  once  a  year.  His  curi- 
osity became  ungovernable.  The  city  was  in  commotion. 
The  high-priest  fell  on  his  face,  and  implored  the  Lord 
Almighty  to  prevent  the  profanation  of  His  Temple.  Still 


108  JUDEA. 

the  resolve  of  Philopater  was  unalterable.  But  tradition 
says  that  as  he  was  about  to  enter  the  Sanctuary  "  he  was 
shaken  like  a  reed  by  the  wind,  and  fell  speechless  to  the 
ground."  He  was  raised  by  his  body-guard  and  carried 
into  the  outer  courts,  where  he  recovered,  and,  full  of 
wrath  against  the  Jews,  quitted  Jerusalem.  But  the  bond 
of  attachment  which  had  so  long  united  the  people  of 
Judea  to  the  Ptolemsean  dynasty,  was  by  his  rash  act  rent 
asunder. 

The  persecution  of  the  Jews  that  he  is  said  to  have 
undertaken  on  his  return  to  Alexandria  is  recorded  only 
in  the  Third  Book  of  Maccabees,1  and  it  is  probably 
wholly  apocryphal,  though  it  is  historically  certain  that  he 
attempted  to  interfere  with  the  faith  and  customs  of  the 
Alexandrine  Jews.  He  claimed  descent  from  Bacchus 
(Dionysus),  and  all  who  would  not  worship  his  divinity 
and  join  in  Bacchanalian  orgies,  he  accounted  as  his  foes. 
He  died  at  length  a  victim  to  debauchery,  and  his  heir 
was  a  mere  child,  not  likely  to  prove  a  successful  rival  to 
Antiochus  the  Great,  who  was  now  rapidly  rising  into 
power. 

Antiochus  felt  that  his  kingdom  of  Syria  needed  for  its 
security  and  completion  Phoenicia,  Palestine,  and  Coele- 
Syria,  the  first  of  which  in  the  language  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  called  "  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon."  By  a 
brilliant  campaign  in  218  B.C.,  he  conquered  these  coun- 
tries, but  the  next  year  he  restored  Palestine  to  Egypt. 
Fifteen  years  later  he  reconquered  it,  and  Judea,  which, 
in  spite  of  its  share  in  many  wars  and  tumults,  had  been 
prosperous  under  the  rule  of  the  Ptolemies,  passed,  not 
unwillingly  (so  disgusted  were  the  Jews  by  the  insult 
Philopater  had  offered  to  their  Temple),  into  possession  of 
the  Seleucid  monarchs  of  Syria. 

Antiochus,  when  he  had  gained  possession  of  Jerusalem, 
showed  much  favor  to  its  inhabitants.  It  is  said  that  he 
embellished  the  Temple,  and  enlarged  its  porches ;  he  also 
granted  to  its  rulers  a  privilege  that  they  desired  above  all 

1  Where  the  story  is  told  in  a  manner  very  graphic  and  interesting. 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  109 

things,  for  he  gave  his  official  sanction  to  their  enforcement 
of  the  Law  of  Moses  in  civil  affairs  as  well  as  in  religion. 

Jerusalem  had  been  almost  deserted.  Antiochus  re- 
peopled  it,  and  set  his  Jewish  prisoners  free.  It  is  even 
said  (though  this  is  a  matter  of  doubt)  that  he  gave  orders 
to  transport  into  Lycia  and  Phrygia  two  thousand  Jewish 
families  from  Mesopotamia  to  form  the  nucleus  of  an  indus- 
trious and  loyal  population.  We  know  at  least  that  in 
Saint  Paul's  time  there  were  many  Jews  living  in  those 
regions. 

It  was  in  the  later  years  of  Antiochus  the  Great  that  a 
new  power  began  to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  East, 
and  new  names  appeared  in  Jewish  history.  That  power 
was  Rome,  which  had  lately  humbled  Carthage,  and  was 
now  resolved  that  nothing  should  take  place  without  her 
permission  in  countries  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean 
Sea. 

The  name  of  a  great  general  who  at  this  time  was 
welcomed  to  the  court  of  Antiochus  at  Antioch  was 
Hannibal,  who  had  evinced  military  talents  second  only  to 
those  of  Alexander  the  Great.  He  had  maintained  his 
ground  in  Italy  for  fourteen  years,  but  in  the  year  that 
Ptolemy  Philopater  died,  he  was  recalled  to  Africa  for  the 
defence  of  Carthage. 

At  this  time  two  kings  —  a  second  Philip  of  Macedon 
and  Antiochus  the  Great  — nourished  plans  for  the  conquest 
of  all  provinces  that  had  once  formed  part  of  the  Persian 
Empire.  They  both  despised  the  Romans  as  barbarians. 
Philip's  plan  was  to  begin  by  conquering  the  possessions  of 
the  Ptolemies  in  Thrace,  Caria,  and  Asia  Minor,  while  his 
ally  Antiochus  made  himself  master  of  Coele-Syria  and 
the  sea-coast  of  Palestine. 

"  Greece  had  already  taught  the  world,"  says  M.  Renan, 
"  what  was  meant  by  the  word  '  liberty,'  and  had  upheld  the 
dignity  of  man,  but  in  everything  that  she  attempted  there 
was  a  flaw,  —  the  lack  of  discipline.  Her  ancient  republics 
invariably  degenerated  into  nests  of  anarchy.  The  boast- 
ing and  rash  folly  of  irresponsible  and  self-seeking  politi- 


I IO  JUDEA. 

cians  overpowered  the  lofty  aims,  good  sense,  and  strict 
adherence  to  morality  preached  and  encouraged  by  an 
enlightened  few." 

Before  the  war  with  Carthage  terminated,  nothing  had 
indicated  to  the  nations  in  the  East  the  wondrous  strength 
of  Rome.  The  civic  power  and  energy  that  directed  the 
arms  of  her  legions,  made  her  progress  irresistible.  "  Her 
Senate,"  says  Renan,  "  seemed  to  other  nations  like  some 
all-powerful  divinity,  who  from  afar  issued  decrees  which 
were  executed  by  mortals  with  the  inflexibility  of  fate." 

The  native  populations  of  the  East  had  grown  weary  of 
their  Macedonian  conquerors,  who  had  become  orientalized 
in  the  course  of  nearly  two  hundred  years.  The  con- 
glomeration of  Asiatic  kingdoms  and  provinces,  with  the 
king  of  Syria  at  its  head,  had  no  nationality.  Greeks  and 
Syrians  did  not  coalesce  into  one  nation  like  Normans  and 
Saxons  in  a  remote  spot  of  the  earth's  surface  fourteen 
hundred  years  afterwards.  "  But  the  powerful  protectorate 
that  Rome  soon  established  over  all  countries  in  the  East 
never  concerned  itself  with  their  moral,  intellectual,  or 
religious  unity.  What  she  sought  was  to  establish  order. 
In  the  lands  that  she  conquered,  she  respected  family 
worship,  and  the  local  gods.  She  had  no  desire  until  a 
much  later  period  in  her  history  to  engage  in  religious 
persecution."  1 

Antiochus  III.  of  Syria  was  not  so  wise.  He  saw  that 
the  Temples  of  the  East  were  rich,  and  that  the  wealth  of 
private  persons  was  stored  up  in  their  treasuries.  He  was 
sorely  in  need  of  money.  To  replenish  his  coffers  he 
plundered  the  Temple  of  Baal  at  Elymas,  in  the  year 
187  B.C.,  and  the  people  of  that  country  slew  him. 

His  son  and  successor,  Seleucus  IV.,  is  thought  to  have 
planned  a  similar  outrage  on  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  and 
to  have  intrusted  this  achievement  to  Heliodorus,  his  general. 
The  story,  as  told  in  the  Second  Book  of  Maccabees,  is  dis- 
missed by  historians  as  altogether  fable,  but  at  any  rate  it 
has  afforded  a  splendid  subject  to  great  painters.  I  will 
1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel. 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  1 1  I 

give  the  legend  in  the  words  of  Dean  Stanley,  deeming  it 
too  picturesque  to  be  omitted. 

"  In  the  Temple  were  laid  up  treasures,  including  private 
deposits,  placed  within  the  sacred  walls  as  a  bank,  for  the 
benefit  of  widows  and  orphans.  There  it  was  that  occurred 
the  scene,  portrayed  in  the  liveliest  colors  in  the  traditions 
of  the  next  century,  when  Heliodorus,  the  king's  treasurer, 
came  with  an  armed  guard  to  seize  upon  these  riches.  The 
account  in  Second  Maccabees  must  be  a  complete  repre- 
sentation of  the  general  aspect  of  a  panic  in  Jerusalem. 
The  priests  in  their  official  costume  lay  prostrate  before 
the  altar,  '  the  high-priest,'  says  the  record,  '  in  such  an  in- 
ward agony  that  whoso  had  looked  at  his  countenance 
and  changing  color,  it  would  have  wounded  his  heart.' 
"  The  Temple  courts  were  thronged  with  suppliants ; 
matrons  with  bosoms  bared,  were  running  frantically  through 
the  streets ;  maidens,  unable  to  brook  their  seclusion,  were 
peering  over  walls,  or  at  every  window;  at  every  door 
people  were  standing  to  gather  news.  There  too  rode  the 
pitiless  officer,  bent  on  fulfilling  his  mission.  Suddenly 
the  scene  changed.  A  horse  with  a  terrible  rider  clad  in 
golden  armor,  was  seen  dashing  into  the  Temple  precinct. 
He  trampled  Heliodorus  under  foot,  whilst  on  either  side 
stood  two  magnificent  youths  lashing  the  prostrate  intruder 
to  the  verge  of  death,  from  which  he  was  only  rescued  by 
the  prayers  of  the  high-priest  Onias.  The  story  lives  only 
in  the  legends  of  the  time,  and  is  not  mentioned  by  con- 
temporary or  later  historians.  But  when  Raphael  wanted 
to  depict  the  triumph  of  Pope  Julius  II.  over  the  enemies 
of  the  Pontificate,  he  could  find  no  fitter  scene  to  adorn 
forever  the  walls  of  the  Vatican  than  that  which  represents 
the  Celestial  Champion,  with  the  vigor  of  immortal  youth, 
trampling  on  the  prostrate  robber."  1 

Apparently,  during  the  reign  of  Seleucus  IV.  religious 
liberty  among  the  Jews  was  not  officially  interfered  with. 
The  people  suffered  patiently  injustice,  insults,  and  ex- 
actions, provided  no  outrage  was  offered  to  their  Temple  or 
1  Stanley's  Jewish  Church. 


112  JUDEA. 

their  Law.  In  fact,  during  the  first  years  the  Selucidae  held 
sway  in  Jerusalem,  men  of  order  and  piety  had  no  great 
cause  to  complain.  But  a  mighty  change  was  being 
wrought  among  the  Jews,  influencing  their  minds  and  man- 
ners. Greek  fashions  were  making  progress  among  young 
men,  but  the  "  grave  noble  fathers  "  of  the  nation  continued 
to  be  the  same  as  they  had  always  been.  The  high-priest 
ruled  in  Jerusalem  as  a  sort  of  king.  He  set  public  works 
on  foot  in  times  of  peace,  and  in  times  of  danger  he  pre- 
pared the  city  to  stand  a  siege.  Jerusalem  had,  however, 
little  value  in  a  military  point  of  view.  The  Greeks  looked 
upon  it  merely  as  a  Holy  City,  a  sort  of  adjunct  to  its 
glittering  Temple. 

The  Jews  were  not  by  nature  men  of  war,  but  men 
of  business;  left  to  themselves  they  led  orderly  and 
quiet  lives.  The  chief-priests  and  elders  represented 
their  aristocracy ;  the  rest  of  the  nation  were  either 
peasants  or  a  well  regulated  bourgeoisie.  But  there  were 
among  them  Epicurean  Jews,  fashionable  young  men, 
voluptuous  and  ambitious.  Grecian  art,  Grecian  culture, 
and  Grecian  polish  had  made  a  great  impression  upon 
them.  In  vain  Antigonus  of  Socho,  who  had  been  made 
President  of  the  Sanhedrim,  endeavored  by  his  maxims  to 
combat  the  change  that  was  taking  place  in  the  manners 
and  habits  of  thought  of  the  young  men  of  his  nation. 
When  he  died,  his  disciples,  under  the  leadership  of  Zadok, 
founded  the  sect  of  the  Sadducees  in  opposition  to  the 
Purists,  or  Chasidim,  whose  endeavor  was,  as  they  said,  to 
plant  "a  hedge  about  the  Law"  —  to  build  up  around  it 
a  wall  for  its  defence,  and  to  narrow  religious  sympathy. 
"This  hedge,"  says  Dean  Stanley,  "was  to  be  built  up  by 
laborious  explanations,  thorny  obstructions,  enormous  devel- 
opments of  everything  laid  down  in  the  Mosaic  Law.  Such 
was  the  labor  of  the  scribes,  until  at  last  the  Pentateuch 
was  buried  beneath  the  Mishnah,  and  the  Mishnah  beneath 
the  Gemara." 

Graetz  says  in  this  connection :  "  As  has  repeatedly 
occurred  in  the  history  of  thinking  nations,  lack  of  moder- 


PRIEST  AND  PUBLICAN.  113 

ation  on  the  one  side  brought  forth  exaggeration  on  the 
other.  Those  Judeans  who  saw  with  pain  and  rage  the 
attempts  of  the  Hellenists,  grouped  themselves  into  a 
party  which  clung  desperately  to  the  Law  and  to  the 
customs  of  their  fathers.  .  .  .  Every  religious  custom  was 
to  them  of  inviolable  sanctity.  A  more  complete  contrast 
than  was  presented  by  these  two  parties  can  hardly  be 
imagined.  .  .  .  That  which  was  the  dearest  wish  of  the 
Hellenists,  the  Chasidim  condemned  as  a  fearful  sin.  .  .  . 
Again,  what  was  dear  and  sacred  to  the  Chasidim,  the 
Hellenists  looked  upon  as  folly,  and  denounced  as  a  hin- 
drance to  the  welfare  and  stability  of  the  community."  l 

Between  these  two  utterly  opposed  parties,  the  mass  of 
the  people  took  a  middle  course.  But  in  general  terms 
it  may  be  said  that  it  was  the  aristocracy  who  inclined  to 
Hellenism,  and  it  was  the  poorer  class,  —  the  Anavim  — 
who  adhered  fanatically  to  the  letter  of  the  Law,  and 
prided  themselves  upon  the  sacrifices  they  made  in  their 
strict  observance  of  it.  It  was  the  former  class  who  held 
not  merely  priestly  offices,  but  the  chief  power  in  the 
State.  "  They  embodied,"  says  the  Rabbi  Raphall,  "  as 
much  of  the  views  of  Epicurus  as  could  by  any  possibility 
be  reconciled  with  the  strict  letter  of  the  Law." 

Hyrcanus,  son  of  Joseph  ben  Tobiah,  on  the  death  of 
Ptolemy  Philopater  seems  to  have  retired  beyond  Jordan, 
where  for  some  time  he  lived  the  life  of  a  bandit  chief, 
levying  contributions  from  the  Arabs  who  dwelt  among  the 
mountains,  deserts,  and  swamps  of  that  wild  country.  At 
last  he  built  himself  among  the  rocks  near  Heshbon  a 
fortified  place  of  safety,  which  to  this  day  is  the  wonder  of 
travellers.  By  winding  passages,  doors  that  admitted  but 
one  person  at  a  time,  and  holes  for  hiding-places  scooped 
out  in  the  rocks,  every  precaution  was  taken  to  guard 
against  surprise  or  treachery.  Hyrcanus  had  accumulated 
great  wealth  through  the  favor  in  which  he  was  held  by  the 
court  at  Alexandria,  and  when  he  saw  that  the  Seleucidse 
were  firmly  establishing  their  rule  in  Palestine,  he  dreaded 
1  Graetz,  History  of  the  Jewish  People,  vol.  i. 


1 14  JUDEA. 

lest  he  should  be  given  up  to  the  vengeance  of  the  Arabs, 
and  killed  himself  in  the  year  1 75  B.  c.  Suicide  had  been 
a  crime  almost  unknown  among  the  Jews.  The  only  in- 
stance recorded  in  the  Old  Testament  is  that  of  Saul,  who 
flung  himself  upon  his  servant's  sword  on  Mount  Gilboa ; 
but  suicides  at  this  period  became  frequent  among  the 
Jews.  There  was  a  general  feeling  among  those  who  had 
imbibed  Greek  ideas  when  they  adopted  Greek  manners, 
that  "  life  was  not  worth  living." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

ANTIOCHUS   EPIPHANES. 

A  BOUT  six  years  after  the  great  battle  of  Raphia,  in 
which  Antiochus  the  Great  was  signally  defeated  by 
the  Egyptian  army,  he  was  persuaded  by  Hannibal,  then  a 
fugitive  at  his  court  in  Antioch,  to  indulge  in  a  vast  scheme 
of  ambition,  —  no  less  than  the  recovery  of  all  the  Asiatic 
provinces  rent  from  the  Persian  Empire  by  Alexander,  and 
even  to  attack  Rome  on  her  own  soil,  with  a  small  but 
carefully  selected  army,  led  by  Hannibal  himself;  after 
which  the  king  was  to  attack  Egypt,  and  recover  all  the 
countries  once  held  by  his  ancestor  Seleucus  Nicator  in 
Thrace  and  Macedonia. 

But  Hannibal  fell  into  disfavor  with  Antiochus,  who  in 
opposition  to  his  advice  undertook  to  lead  an  expedition 
into  Greece.  His  army  was  completely  routed  at  the 
fatal  pass  of  Thermopylse,  and  on  his  retreat  he  was 
warned  by  Hannibal  that  he  had  now  a  struggle  before 
him  in  which  he  would  be  called  upon  to  fight  in  Asia,  and 
for  Asia  against  Rome. 

Failing  to  negotiate  a  peace  with  Rome,  which  espoused 
the  cause  of  her  allies,  Antiochus  fought  a  desperate  battle 
at  Magnesia,  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  lost  fifty  thousand 
men,  while  the  Roman  loss  was  only  four  hundred.  After 
this  he  was  forced  to  sue  for  peace  on  any  terms.  The 
Romans  did  not  insist  upon  a  cession  of  territory  (Antio- 
chus by  a  marriage  contract  with  the  young  king  of  Egypt 
was  in  possession  of  Palestine),  but  he  was  called  upon  to 
pay  Rome  a  sum  equal  in  our  money  to  ninety  millions  of 
dollars.  This  sum  was  to  be  divided  into  twelve  parts,  one 
part  to  be  paid  punctually  every  year.  To  ensure  this 


Il6  JUDEA. 

punctual  payment  Antiochus  sent  to  Rome  young  men 
of  good  family  as  hostages,  among  them  his  second  son 
Antiochus,  subsequently  surnamed  Epiphanes.  He  was 
also  to  furnish  the  Romans  annually  500,400  measures  of 
wheat,  to  pay  large  sums  to  the  King  of  Pergamus  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  who  had  lent  their  assist- 
ance to  the  Romans,  and  to  deliver  up  his  elephants  and 
ships  of  war,  retaining  only  ten  of  the  latter  for  the  defence 
of  his  coasts ;  and,  lastly,  he  was  to  surrender  Hannibal,  his 
adviser  and  guest,  to  the  vengeance  of  Rome. 

But  Hannibal,  who  had  foreseen  the  probable  result  of 
the  great  battle  of  Magnesia,  had  already  quitted  Antioch, 
and  became  a  fugitive,  wandering  from  court  to  court 
among  the  petty  sovereigns  of  the  East,  everywhere  pursued 
by  the  bitter  hatred  of  the  Romans.  At  last  in  Bithynia, 
wearied  by  this  incessant  persecution,  he  committed  suicide. 

It  was  the  extreme  difficulty  of  raising  the  enormous  sum 
to  be  paid  annually  to  the  Romans  that  led  Antiochus  to 
think  of  plundering  the  treasuries  of  remote  temples,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  at  Elymas  he  met  his  death. 

Impoverished  by  the  drain  on  his  resources  made  by  the 
debt  to  Rome,  Seleucus,  his  son,  was  ready  when  occasion 
offered  to  adopt  the  same  plan,  and  soon  after  his  accession 
there  seemed  every  chance  of  his  obtaining  great  riches 
from  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  The  high-priest,  Onias,  who 
is  described  in  Second  Maccabees  as  "  a  good  man,  rev- 
erend in  conversation,  gentle  in  behavior,  exercised  from 
a  child  in  all  points  of  virtue,  and  zealous  for  the  Lord," 
was  looked  upon  by  his  countrymen  as  leader  of  the  pious 
or  Puritan  party.  His  opponent  was  Simon  the  Benjamite, 
who  was  governor  of  the  Temple,  —  head,  apparently,  of 
that  committee  first  appointed  by  Ezra  to  see  justice  done 
to  all  in  the  distribution  of  the  offerings.  This  position 
brought  Simon  into  frequent  collision  with  the  high-priest, 
who  at  last  banished  him  from  Jerusalem. 

This  Simon  was  head  of  the  Hellenist  party,  which  was 
making  great  headway  among  worldlings  in  Jerusalem.  He 
had  two  brothers,  Onias,  called  Menelaus,  and  Lysimachus, 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES.  Ii; 

and  these  were  in  close  alliance  with  the  Tobiades,  or  elder 
sons  of  Joseph,  the  late  tax  collector  for  the  Egyptian  king. 
Hyrcanus,  his  son,  on  his  retreat  to  his  cliff  fortress  in  the 
Arabian  desert,  had  stored  part  of  his  riches  in  the  Temple. 
The  existence  of  this  treasure  Simon  revealed  to  Apollo- 
nius,  the  king's  governor  in  Ccele-Syria,  and  Heliodorus  was 
sent  to  Jerusalem  to  possess  himself  of  it,  as  has  been  already 
related.  Meantime  Simon  the  Benjamite,  at  the  court  of 
the  king  at  Antioch  was  busy  slandering  Onias  the  high- 
priest,  who  was  his  personal  enemy.  Thus  when  Onias 
made  his  appearance  at  Antioch,  to  consult  with  the  king 
as  to  how  the  disturbances  in  Judea  might  be  brought  to  an 
end,  he  found  himself  esteemed  a  traitor,  and  detained  a 
captive. 

Onias  had  left  in  Jerusalem  a  brother  called  Joshua  by 
his  parents,  who  had  changed  his  name  to  Jason.  Jason 
was  a  leader  of  the  Hellenist  party,  a  close  ally  of  Simon. 
He  now  solicited  the  deposition  of  his  brother,  and  offered 
Seleucus  a  sum  equal  to  about  half  a  million  dollars  if  he 
would  give  him  the  high-priest's  place.  He  was  already 
known  at  the  court  of  Antioch  as  a  Jew  strongly  tinctured 
with  the  philosophy  of  Epicurus,  a  man  of  polished  ad- 
dress, and  with  insinuating  manners.  As  he  was  of  the 
tribe  of  Aaron  and  brother  to  a  duly  qualified  high-priest, 
who  had  already  named  him  Sagan,  or  coadjutor,  while  he 
should  be  away  at  Antioch,  the  Jews  seem  to  have  offered 
no  opposition,  though  the  appointment  of  their  high- 
priest  by  the  authority  of  a  pagan  king  must  have  seemed 
to  many  a  dangerous  precedent. 

Up  to  this  time  heathen  worship  had  been  kept  out  of 
Judea.  So  long  as  their  Temple  and  their  Law  were  not 
interfered  with,  the  Jews  seem  to  have  submitted  with  in- 
difference to  Egyptian  or  to  Syrian  rulers.  But  in  all  other 
departments  of  civil  and  domestic  life  the  Hellenistic  spirit 
made  rapid  headway,  and  as  young  Je\vs  became  attracted 
by  the  glitter  of  Greek  manners,  many  began  to  covet 
national  liberty. 

About  175  years  before  Christ,  which  is  the  date  of  the 


Il8  JUDEA. 

accession  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the  influence  of  Hellen- 
ism was  well  established  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Jews  in  Palestine  were  the  only  people  who 
resisted  it,  but  Greek  fashions,  even  in  Palestine,  had  taken 
root.  All  the  lively  and  frivolous  elements  of  Jewish  soci- 
ety, the  young,  who  loved  novelty,  and  men  whose  sympa- 
thies were  with  intellectual  advancement,  turned  towards 
the  sun  that  was  pouring  its  light  upon  the  world ;  but  the 
Puritan  party  in  Palestine  who  admired  only  the  Law,  and 
were  hostile  to  Greek  rationalism,  opposed  the  progress  of 
the  new  ideas  with  all  their  might. 

"  In  the  end  it  was  the  Puritans  who  triumphed ;  and 
through  their  victory  the  Jewish  faith  may  be  said  to  have 
fulfilled  the  predictions  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  and  to  have 
conquered  the  whole  civilized  world.  It  triumphed  over 
Greek  enlightenment,  and  over  Roman  power."  x 

Greek  life  required  public  establishments  for  bodily  exer- 
cise and  bodily  discipline.  At  certain  hours  of  the  day 
young  men  were  expected  to  engage  in  public  feats  of 
strength  and  activity,  as  a  proper  preparation  for  official 
life,  and  even  for  success  in  paths  of  learning  and  literature. 
Public  baths,  a  gymnasium,  and  open  porches,  for  bodily 
exercises,  were  needs  of  life  to  Greek  young  men. 

The  first  consideration  with  a  youthful  Greek  was  care  of 
his  own  person.  Cleanliness  and  hygiene,  even  to  this  day, 
play  an  important  part  in  the  life  of  every  self-respecting 
Oriental ;  but  Greek  training  required  athletic  exercises ; 
and  wrestling,  racing,  and  boxing  as  practised  by  the  Greeks, 
shocked  the  instinctive  modesty  of  Orientals.  They  con- 
sidered public  nudity  as  an  incentive  to  vice,  and  in  their 
gymnasiums  a  Jew  was  liable  to  ridicule  on  account  of  his 
circumcision. 

The  city  of  Jerusalem  was  accordingly  divided  against 
itself.  Its  inhabitants  were  of  two  parties.  One  party, 
madly  eager  to  imitate  Greek  fashions,  neglected  nothing 

1  See  Renan's  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,"  vol.  iv.  book  viii. 
As  I  have  permission  to  make  free  use  of  my  own  translation  of 
vols.  iv.  and  v.  of  this  work,  I  need  make  no  further  apology. 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES.  1 19 

that  would  assimilate  their  mode  of  life  to  the  manners  of 
the  Greeks.  Young  men  adopted  as  a  party  badge  a  hat 
like  those  seen  on  the  head  of  Mercury  in  all  his  statues ; 
while  opponents  of  Hellenism,  men  of  strict  piety  but  of 
narrow  ideas,  conformed  in  all  things  to  the  Jewish  dress 
and  customs  of  a  past  age,  as  well  as  to  ancient  ritual ; 
abhorring  what  was  best  and  what  was  worst  in  Greek  civ- 
ilization. The  majority  of  the  Jewish  community  in  the 
rural  districts,  though  their  country  was  dotted  over  with 
Greek  settlements,  were  fervent  pietists,  but  among  the 
aristocracy  in  Jerusalem  there  were  lukewarm  Jews,  — 
many  indeed  who  were  scarcely  Jews  at  all,  and  who  hated 
the  strict  rules  of  life  imposed  by  the  Law,  or  Torah. 

The  Ceremonial  Law,  interpreted  by  traditions  and  en- 
forced by  civil  authority,  must  indeed  have  been  intolerable. 
We  shall  see  how  it  worked  under  the  Asmonean  princes, 
when  the  whole  power  of  the  nation  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Pharisees. 

Seleucus  Philometer  was  murdered  by  Heliodorus,  the 
officer  who  had  been  repulsed  by  the  high-priest  and  had 
fallen  senseless  on  the  threshold  of  the  Temple.  When 
Seleucus  died,  Demetrius,  his  son,  was  on  his  way  to  Rome 
to  be  exchanged  for  his  uncle  Antiochus,  who  had  been 
thirteen  years  a  hostage  in  that  city.  The  news  of  his 
brother's  death  met  Antiochus  at  Athens ;  he  hurried  at  once 
to  Antioch,  and  by  help  of  the  King  of  Pergamus  crushed 
Heliodorus,  whose  scheme  of  usurpation  entirely  failed. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  might  be  briefly  described  as  the 
prototype  of  Nero.  Both  were  men  who  had  natural 
abilities,  both  had  been  over-stimulated  by  injudicious 
education,  both  were  lavish  in  their  patronage  of  art, 
both  loved  to  exhibit  themselves  before  their  subjects  in 
public  games,  both,  laying  aside  all  sense  of  royal  dignity, 
would  sometimes  in  public  play  the  buffoon.  Neither  had 
at  heart  any  reverence  for  any  deity,  but  they  endeavored 
to  force  religious  conformity  on  their  subjects,  and  Anti- 
ochus set  up  an  idol's  statue,  hateful  to  the  Jews,  in  the  Holy 
Temple  made  sacred  by  the  especial  presence  of  Jehovah. 


120  JUDEA. 

The  Jews  have  had  many  enemies,  but  this  man  made 
himself  the  most  hated  of  them  all.  His  surname  Epi- 
phanes  (the  Brilliant)  was  changed  by  his  subjects  to 
Epimanes  (the  Madman).  He  had  learned  in  Rome  to 
look  with  contempt  on  Orientals,  particularly  the  Jews.  In 
private  life  his  conduct  was  disgraceful,  but  his  follies  and 
debaucheries,  common  enough  among  sovereigns  in  the 
East,  would  have  been  of  no  great  consequence  beyond 
the  bounds  of  his  own  palace,  had  not  his  rashness  led  him 
to  undertake  enterprises  which,  ending  in  failure,  weak- 
ened his  authority.  He  loved  Greece,  and  he  aspired  to 
the  honor  of  expanding  its  spirit  in  the  Orient.  He  knew 
nothing  of  the  character,  national  prejudices,  and  opinions 
of  the  various  countries  that  he  aspired  to  govern.  He 
did  not  comprehend  that  the  feeling  which  in  Greece  was 
love  of  country,  in  Rome  attachment  to  a  city,  was  in 
Judea  represented  by  passionate  fidelity  to  a  system  of 
local  worship.  Invariably  a  good  cause,  when  he  adopted 
it,  was  ruined  by  his  want  of  judgment.  Not  unnaturally, 
he  was  eager  to  make  what  he  considered  enlightenment 
and  civilization  spread  over  countries  that  had,  as  he  con- 
ceived, known  only  inferior  culture,  and  religions  tainted 
with  fanaticism  and  superstition.  All  this  might  have  been 
brought  to  pass  had  his  dreams  not  included  Palestine. 
When  he  attacked  Judaism  he  was  measuring  his  strength 
against  the  eternal  purpose  of  the  Almighty.  How  could 
he  have  suspected  that  the  seemingly  fanatical  faith  of  so 
insignificant  a  country  was  to  exert  an  all-powerful  influ- 
ence over  the  whole  world? 

Antiochus  soon  after  his  accession  (prompted  no  doubt 
by  his  flatterer  and  favorite,  Jason)  began  to  show  his 
dislike  and  contempt  for  the  strict  pietists  in  Jerusalem. 
"  In  dealing  with  the  Jews,  his  object  was  "  says  Tacitus, 
"  to  remove  their  superstition,  to  give  them  Greek  cus- 
toms, and  thus  to  improve  the  characteristics  of  a  most 
detestable  race." 

All  government  employments  in  Judea  were  given  to 
Jewish  "  liberals,"  some  of  whom,  to  court  the  favor  of  the 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES,  121 

king,  renounced  their  religion  and  did  homage  to  Jupiter. 
Such  were  loaded  with  honors,  received  lucrative  employ- 
ments, and  at  once  put  on  airs  of  superiority.  "They 
clothed  themselves  in  Greek  costume ;  they  endeavored 
to  pass  themselves  off  as  accomplished  Greeks.  They 
despised  Mosaic  customs,  and  considered  those  who  ob- 
served them  unenlightened  and  old-fashioned.  The  man- 
ners and  customs  of  Antioch  spread  as  if  by  magic  through 
Jerusalem  ;  a  majority  in  the  City  of  Priests  was  won  over 
to  the  new  ideas."  l 

Jason  had  not  only  offered  large  sums  of  money  to 
King  Antiochus  to  confirm  him  in  the  high-priesthood, 
but  he  engaged  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  Hellenize  Jerusa- 
lem. He  proceeded  to  build  for  the  young  men  a  gym- 
nasium with  open  porches  and  galleries  for  spectators. 
Those  who  were  in  training  for  the  games  were  to  be 
registered  as  citizens  of  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem  was  to  be 
governed  by  Greek  municipal  regulations. 

The  gymnasium  was  accordingly  built,  and  young  men 
rushed  to  it  for  public  sports.  Even  priests  hurried  through 
their  service  at  the  altar  to  go  into  athletic  training. 
Jerusalem  was  in  a  fever  of  innovation.  Every  young  man 
seemed  trying  to  assume  the  air  of  a  Greek. 

It  was  a  dangerous  time  for  Judaism.  Had  it  been 
unchecked  the  Hebrew  Bible  and  the  Jewish  faith  might, 
humanly  speaking,  have  disappeared.  No  scruples  ar- 
rested Jason  in  his  career.  When  a  festival  was  held  at 
Tyre  in  honor  of  the  patron  divinity  of  the  city  Moloch,  or 
Melkart  (identified,  to  please  the  Greeks,  with  Hercules), 
he  sent  a  rich  gift  to  the  idol's  sanctuary  in  order  to  show 
in  the  presence  of  King  Antiochus,  who  assisted  on  the 
occasion,  not  only  his  generosity,  but  his  emancipation 
from  Jewish  prejudices.  Those  who  carried  the  gift  to 
Tyre  were  more  scrupulous  than  their  high-priest.  They 
paid  the  money,  but  contrived  that  it  should  be  spent,  not 
in  service  to  Moloch,  but  in  building  war  galleys  for  the 
Syrian  navy. 

1  Dean  Farrar,  The  Herods. 


122  JUDEA. 

Jason,  however,  with  all  his  sycophancy,  was  unable  to 
retain  his  priestly  office.  He  had  taught  King  Antiochus 
that  it  was  possible  to  depose  a  high-priest  who  had  been 
appointed  by  his  authority,  and  Antiochus  was  not  slow  to 
"  better  the  instruction." 

After  three  years  a  brother  of  Simon  the  Benjamite, 
named  Onias,  but  who  preferred  to  call  himself  Menelaus, 
supplanted  Jason  by  larger  promises.  To  fulfil  these,  he 
seized  upon  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  Temple  and  sent 
many  to  be  sold  by  his  agents  in  Tyre  and  Sidon. 

The  old  high-priest  Onias,  who  had  gone  into  retirement 
at  Daphne,  near  Antioch,  heard  of  this,  and  informed  the 
king's  agent,  Andronicus,  in  the  absence  of  the  sovereign. 
Andronicus,  bribed  by  Menelaus,  determined  to  put  the 
aged  priest  out  of  the  way.  He  persuaded  him  to  come 
forth  from  the  temple  of  Apollo,  where  he  had  taken  ref- 
uge, and  then  had  him  assassinated.  This  sacrilegious 
perfidy  shocked  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  and  called  forth 
the  only  instance  of  human  feeling  in  Antiochus  which 
has  been  recorded  by  Jewish  historians. 

Jason  had  been  sent  into  exile  beyond  Jordan,  and 
Menelaus  "  through  the  covetous  dealings  of  them  that 
were  in  power,  remained  still  in  his  office  "  1  as  high-priest. 

Antiochus,  on  his  return  from  an  expedition  into  Egypt, 
passed  through  Jerusalem,  where  he  plundered  the  Temple, 
caused  Menelaus  to  introduce  him  into  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
and,  greatly  irritated  against  the  inhabitants  for  their 
sympathy  with  Egypt,  shed  torrents  of  Jewish  blood.  His 
visit  to  the  Sanctuary  laid  the  foundation  for  two  lies,  one 
of  which,  up  to  this  day,  clings,  among  half-civilized  Anti- 
Semites  in  eastern  Europe,  to  the  popular  idea  of  the  Jews. 

He  reported  that  he  saw  in  the  Sanctuary  (where  there 
was  really  nothing  but  one  great  stone  2  on  which  the  high- 
priest  on  the  day  of  Atonement  rested  his  censer)  the 
figure  of  an  old  man  with  a  long  beard  (presumably  Moses), 

1  Maccabees. 

-  This  stone,  it  is  said,  is  still  held  sacred  in  the  Mosque  of  Omar 
built  on  the  site  of  the  Temple  of  Jehovah. 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES.  123 

riding  on  an  ass,  with  a  scroll  in  his  hand.  From  this  story 
came  the  fiction  that  the  Jews  worshipped  the  head  of  an 
ass.  Among  the  graffiti  at  Pompeii  —  the  writings  on  the 
walls  —  was  found  a  scrawl  by  which  some  Roman  legion- 
ary had  endeavored  to  turn  a  Jewish  comrade  into  rid- 
icule, or  possibly  some  Christian,  whom,  as  was  frequently 
the  case  in  early  Christian  ages,  he  confounded  with  the 
Jews.  The  rude  sketch  represents  a  man  in  a  devotional 
attitude  before  a  cross,  on  which  hangs  a  human  figure 
with  the  head  of  an  ass.  And  underneath  is  the  inscrip- 
tion "  ALEXAMENUS  WORSHIPS  GOD."  The  more  dangerous 
fiction  was,  that  Antiochus,  searching  the  chambers  of  the 
Temple,  found  a  Syrian  bound  on  a  bed  who  was  awaiting 
sacrifice,  —  it  being  a  yearly  custom  for  the  Jews,  on  one  of 
their  great  festivals,  to  immolate  a  Gentile  victim  ! 

Two  years  later  Antiochus  made  another  expedition  into 
Egypt,  but  the  Ptolemy  who  then  reigned,  and  his  sister 
Cleopatra  had  sought  the  powerful  protection  of  Rome. 
Rome  delayed  her  assistance  until  assured  of  the  issue  of  a 
war  she  was  then  waging  with  Perseus,  the  last  king  of 
Macedonia,  and  meantime  a  report  reached  Jerusalem  of 
the  defeat  and  death  of  Antiochus.  It  there  caused  great 
rejoicing.  Jason  hastened  back  from  beyond  Jordan  and  at- 
tacked Menelaus  and  his  supporters.  Philip  the  Phrygian, 
the  military  governor  of  the  city,  was  overpowered  and  with 
his  garrison  took  refuge  in  the  citadel.  Jerusalem  was  given 
over  to  anarchy  and  bloodshed. 

Meantime  the  Roman  Senate,  always  glad  to  interfere  in 
the  affairs  of  an  African  or  Asiatic  kingdom,  waited  only 
until  it  knew  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Pydna  in  Mace- 
donia, where  King  Perseus  was  overthrown,  and  the  hered- 
itary kingdom  of  Alexander  the  Great  became  a  Roman 
province.  Then  the  Senate  sent  Caius  Popilius  Laenas,  who 
in  Rome  had  been  a  personal  friend  of  Antiochus,  to  de- 
liver its  commands  to  him  wherever  he  might  be  found. 

Antiochus  received  the  ambassador  on  the  sands  within 
four  miles  of  Alexandria.  He  advanced  to  meet  his  friend 
with  cordial  greeting,  but  Popilius  refused  his  embrace,  de- 


124  JUDEA. 

manding  peremptorily  an  answer  to  the  written  orders  of  the 
Roman  Senate,  which  he  handed  to  the  king  on  an  official 
tablet  that  contained  only  these  words :  "Antiochus,  thou 
wilt  abstain  from  making  war  on  the  Ptolemies." 

On  reading  this  message  Antiochus  asked  time  to  con- 
sider the  demand,  and  to  confer  with  his  generals.  But 
Popilius  required  instant  submission.  With  his  staff  he 
drew  a  circle  round  the  king  upon  the  sand,  and  said  : 
"  I  require  thine  answer  before  thou  shalt  overstep  this 
line." 

The  struggle  in  the  king's  mind  must  have  been  fierce, 
but  he  yielded  obedience,  and  then  Popilius  extended  his 
hand.  Rome  was  becoming  too  powerful  for  either  Syria  or 
Egypt  to  resist. 

Made  furious  by  the  affront  put  on  him  by  the  Roman 
Senate,  Antiochus  returned  to  Antioch,  which  by  his  muni- 
ficence he  had  made  a  splendid  city,  and  as  he  passed 
through  Palestine  he  laid  plans  to  wreak  his  vengeance  on 
the  defenceless  Jews.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  have  sus- 
pected some  nationalists  among  the  Jews  of  meditating 
relations  with  the  Romans ;  at  all  events  public  sympathy  in 
Jerusalem  and  Judea  was  with  the  Ptolemies. 

He  lost  no  time  in  sending  Apollonius,  his  chief  collector 
of  tribute,  who  commanded  a  large  force  in  Samaria,  to 
lead  what  is  now  known  as  a  punitive  expedition  against 
Jerusalem.  Apollonius  (called  elsewhere  in  Jewish  writings 
"a  detestable  ringleader"  and  "  a  lord  of  pollution  ")  en- 
tered the  city  peaceably,  with  soft  words  and  fair  promises, 
but  the  next  day  being  the  Sabbath,  when  he  knew  his  troops 
would  meet  with  no  resistance,  "  he  fell  upon  the  city  sud- 
denly and  smote  it  very  sore.  .  .  .  And  he  took  the  spoils 
of  the  city,  and  set  it  on  fire,  and  pulled  down  the  houses 
thereof,  and  the  walls  thereof  on  every  side.  And  [having 
destroyed  much  people  out  of  Israel]  they  led  captive  the 
women  and  the  children,  and  the  cattle  they  took  in  pos- 
session." i  The  fortress  of  Akra  was  strengthened  and  pro- 
visioned, and  Jewish  Hellenists  were  invited  to  make  the 
1  i  Maccabees  i.  32-40. 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES.  125 

stronghold  their  place  of  refuge.  This  terrible  citadel, 
which  overlooked  the  Temple  courts,  thenceforth  for  many 
years  became  "  a  place  to  lie  in  wait  against  the  sanctuary 
and  an  evil  adversary  to  Israel  continually."  1 

Antiochus  had  already  carried  back  with  him  to  Antioch 
the  golden  altar  of  incense,  the  table  of  showbread,  the 
golden  candlestick,  the  bowls  and  vases  used  in  Jewish 
worship,  and  the  golden  censers.  He  also  tore  down  the 
rich  veil  which  separated  the  Holy  Place  from  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  scaled  off  the  gold  veneering  on  the  front  of  the 
Temple,  and  left  only  the  bare  stones. 

The  patriots  and  pietists  abandoned  Jerusalem.  Priests, 
now  that  the  Temple  worship  was  suspended,  sought  other 
homes.  The  courts  of  the  Temple  became  like  a  wilderness, 
grown  up  with  briars  and  thorns.  Great  as  had  once 
been  the  glory  of  the  Lord's  House,  so  great  became  its 
humiliation. 

But  worse  things  were  to  follow.  Antiochus  issued  a 
terrible  decree,  worse  than  anything  that  had  proceeded 
from  any  Assyrian  or  Babylonian  conqueror.  Here  is  the 
matter  succinctly  told  in  the  words  of  the  Jewish  historian  :  2 

"  And  King  Antiochus  wrote  to  his  whole  kingdom,  that 
all  should  be  one  people,  and  that  each  should  forsake  his 
own  laws.  .  .  .  And  the  king  sent  letters  by  the  hand  of 
messengers  unto  Jerusalem  and  the  cities  of  Judah,  that 
they  should  follow  laws  strange  to  the  land,  and  should 
forbid  whole  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifice  and  drink-offer- 
ings in  the  Sanctuary ;  and  should  profane  the  sabbaths 
and  feasts,  and  pollute  the  Sanctuary  and  them  that  were 
holy ;  that  they  should  build  altars  and  temples  and  shrines 
for  idols  ;  and  should  sacrifice  swine's  flesh  and  unclean 
beasts,  and  that  they  should  leave  their  sons  uncircumcised ; 

1  There  has  been  much  controversy  concerning   the   position  of 
Akra,  but  it  is  now  generally  held  to  have  stood  on  the  same  spot  as 
the  Castle  of  Antonia,  that  is,  on  Mount  Zion  in  the  city  of  David,  an 
eminence  separated  from  the  Temple  Mount  by  the  deep  ravine  called 
the   Tyropean.     The  difficulty  lies  in  the  confusion  between  Mount 
Zion  and  the  Temple  Mount,  both  peaks  of  Mount  Moriah. 

2  i  Maccabees  i.  41  -57. 


1 26  JUDEA. 

that  they  should  make  their  souls  abominable  with  all 
manner  of  uncleanliness  and  profanation;  so  that  they 
might  forget  the  Law  and  change  all  the  ordinances. 
And  whosoever  shall  not  do  according  to  the  word  of  the 
king  he  shall  die  !  " 

The  Temple  worship  of  course  ceased.  No  priest  any 
longer  offered  the  daily  sacrifice.  Homage  to  Olympian 
Jove  was  substituted  for  offerings  to  Jehovah.  The  statue 
of  the  Greek  divinity  was  placed  upon  a  pedestal  behind 
the  altar  of  sacrifice.  It  was  "  the  abomination  of  desola- 
tion," an  object  of  unspeakable  horror  to  all  true  Jews. 
The  people  long  remembered  the  date  of  the  desecration 
of  their  Temple,  —  the  day  when  the  statue  of  Jupiter  was 
set  up  to  preside  over  the  altar  dedicated  to  Jehovah.  It 
was  the  i5th  day  of  the  month  Kislew  —  the  i5th  day  of 
December  in  the  year  168  B.C.  Never  before  had  there 
been  witnessed  such  ruthless  desecration.  Nebuchadnezzar 
had  destroyed  the  Sanctuary,  but  what  was  that  to  the  in- 
stallation of  a  strange  god  in  the  very  abode  of  the  Al- 
mighty? The  expression  which  the  Septuagint  translated 
into  "the  abomination  of  desolation,"  and  which  we,  fol- 
lowing the  Latin  Vulgate,  have  retained,  was  in  the  original 
Hebrew  "  the  very  filth  of  desolation "  —  the  coarsest 
epithet  the  outraged  sons  of  Jacob  could  bestow. 

Similar  statues  of  Jupiter  Olympus  were  set  up  in  all 
Jewish  cities  in  the  vicinity  of  Jerusalem.  At  Gerizim  the 
Sanctuary  of  Jehovah  was  profaned  by  Jove.  It  is  probable 
that  the  Samaritans  offered  less  resistance  to  the  king's 
edict  than  the  Jews.  It  is  said  that  they  even  invited  the 
officers  of  the  king  to  set  up  their  lord's  divinity,  declaring 
themselves  to  be  of  the  Greek  race,  rather  than  the 
descendants  of  Hebrews. 

Nor  was  it  enough  to  desecrate  the  Holy  Places.  Jewish 
worship,  even  in  private,  was  sternly  prohibited.  Circum- 
cision, the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  other  injunctions 
laid  down  in  the  Law,  were  forbidden  under  pain  of  death. 
All  copies  of  the  Law  that  could  be  found  were  defaced  by 
coarse  sketches  of  idols,  or  were  torn  up  and  destroyed. 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES.  I2/ 

Inspectors  once  a  month  went  through  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages to  seize  such  scrolls,  and  to  discover  if  any  case  of 
circumcision  had  taken  place.  At  the  Bacchanalian  festi- 
vals all  persons  were  compelled  to  take  part  in  the  indecent 
revels,  wearing  crowns  of  ivy.  The  courts  of  the  Temple 
became  the  scene  of  heathen  orgies. 

For  two  years  (169  and  168  B.C.)  the  soldiers  of  Antiochus 
had  lived  at  free  quarters  throughout  Judea.  This  gave 
them  personal  knowledge  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
and  enabled  them  to  execute  with  great  thoroughness  the 
cruel  commands  of  their  superiors.  Women  were  brought 
before  the  judges  charged  with  having  circumcised  their 
infant  sons.  They  were  hung  over  the  city  wall  with  their 
babes  slung  on  their  bosoms. 

There  are  touching  stories  told  in  the  Jewish  martyrology 
of  those  days,  some  of  which  maybe  read  in  our  Apocrypha 
in  the  Second  Book  of  Maccabees,  —  the  story  of  the  aged 
Eleazar,  who  would  not  break  the  Law  by  tasting  swine's 
flesh,  and  when  the  official  whose  duty  it  was  to  force  it  on 
him  whispered  compassionately  that  the  morsel  offered  him 
should  be  taken  from  some  other  animal,  replied :  "  It 
becometh  not  our  age  in  any  wise  to  dissemble,  whereby 
many  young  persons  might  think  that  Eleazar,  being  four- 
score years  old  and  ten,  were  now  gone  to  a  strange  religion, 
and  so  they,  through  my  hypocrisy  .  »  .  should  be  deceived 
through  me." 

Or  of  the  brave  boy,  youngest  son  of  the  devoted  mother 
Hermonita  (known  in  history  as  the  mother  of  the  Macca- 
bees, though  there  is  no  reason  to  think  she  was  related  to 
Judas  and  his  brethren),  who  followed  the  example  of  his 
six  elder  brothers,  refusing,  even  at  the  king's  suggestion, 
to  kneel  down  before  him  and  pick  up  his  royal  signet- 
ring,  fearing  that  this  compliance  might  be  misinterpreted 
into  an  act  of  idolatrous  worship  when  reported  to  his 
countrymen. 

The  passage  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Hebrews  in  which 
the  apostle  speaks  of  those  "  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy,"  "  who  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance" 


128  JUDEA. 

"  who  wandered  about  in  sheep-skins,  and  goat-skins,  in 
deserts,  and  in  mountains,  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth," 
is  believed  to  refer  to  this  period.  The  author  of  the 
First  Book  of  Maccabees  gives  us  few  particulars  of  these 
martyrdoms,  but  the  sublime  brevity  of  his  account  is 
even  more  impressive.  "  Howbeit,  many  in  Israel  were 
resolved  not  to  profane  the  Holy  Covenant ;  so  then  they 
died." 

But  the  terrible  persecution  through  which  the  faithful 
passed  was  not  suffered  in  vain.  "  Judah  was  searched,"  says 
the  author  of"  From  Malachi  to  Matthew,"  l  "  and  that  which 
was  unworthy  cast  out.  Waverers  returned  with  rekindled 
fervor  to  the  God  of  their  fathers.  In  their  hiding-places 
in  the  outskirts  of  the  land  the  faces  of  the  Chasidim  grew 
stern.  The  soldiers  of  Jehovah  were  made  ready  for 
battle,  waiting  in  prayer  for  a  God-sent  man  to  lead 
them." 

Meantime,  under  the  stress  of  the  persecution,  many 
bands  of  religious  enthusiasts  fled  into  the  wilderness. 
What  is  called  the  Wilderness  in  Scripture  is  a  stretch  of 
wild,  rough  country,  full  of  great  rocks,  with  many  caves  and 
hiding-places.  It  is  unfit  for  agriculture,  but  can  sustain 
cattle.  In  the  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth  in  this  region 
the  faithful  endeavored  to  conceal  themselves,  but  were 
often  betrayed  to  the  officers  of  Antiochus  by  apostates 
still  resident  in  Jerusalem. 

On  one  occasion  a  thousand  of  these  fugitives,  men  and 
women  with  their  children  and  their  cattle,  were  traced  into 
the  wilderness.  They  were  pursued,  and  driven  into  a 
cave,  where  the  king's  forces,  believing  that  they  would  not 
fight  upon  the  Sabbath  day,  attacked  them  with  fire  and 
sword,  after  they  had  been  summoned  to  "  come  forth  and 
do  according  to  the  word  of  the  king."  All  were  destroyed, 
for  they  refused  to  cast  even  a  stone  upon  the  Sabbath 
against  their  enemies,  or  to  defend  themselves  by  stopping 
up  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  saying  "  Let  us  die  in  our  inno- 

1  "  From  Malachi  to  Matthew,"  by  R.  Wadcly  Moss,  teacher  in 
classics,  Didsbury  College,  1893. 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES. 

cency ;  heaven  and  earth  witness  over  us  that  ye  put  us  to 
death  without  trial.1 

The  shock  that  such  tragedies  must  have  produced  in 
the  hearts  of  pious  men  would  naturally  find  expression  in 
earnest  prayers  and  poems.  Psalms  xliv.,  Ixxiv.,  Ixxix., 
and  Ixxxiii.,  may  possibly  have  been  composed  in  those 
terrible  days.  At  any  rate  they  seem  to  express  the  feelings 
that  must  have  been  in  many  hearts  at  the  time.  M.  Renan, 
however,  thinks  that  the  canonical  collection  of  the  Psalms 
was  complete  before  that  day,  for  we  read  in  the  prologue 
to  Ecclesiasticus  that  the  Psalter  had  already  been  translated 
into  Greek.  But  the  prayers  of  the  Puritans  had  been 
heard.  The  Hour  and  the  Man  were  at  hand. 

"The  ancient  main  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Lydda,  after 
descending  the  rocky  slope  of  Bethhoron,  runs  along  a  moun- 
tain spur  to  a  wide  plain.  About  a  mile  north  of  this 
main  road  is  the  village  or  town  of  Modin,  built  on  the 
southern  slopes  of  a  rocky  valley.  All  around  it  the  coun- 
try is  bare  of  trees,  but  has  terraces  built  against  the 
hillsides,  and  has  still  ancient  sepulchres,  quarries,  and 
reservoirs  cut  in  the  limestone  rock.  From  a  knoll  above 
the  village  may  be  caught  a  distant  glimpse  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.  On  the  road  below  lies  the  white  town  of 
Lydda,  and  the  broad,  brown  plain  of  Sharon  stretches  ten 
miles  to  the  sea."  2 

In  this  little  village  about  twenty  miles  from  Jerusalem 
had  settled,  when  persecution  grew  hot  in  Jerusalem,  and 
the  Temple  worship  was  suspended,  Mattathiah,  an  aged 
priest,  descended  from  Eleazar  and  Phineas  (the  son  and 
grandson  of  Aaron).  Modin  was  no  doubt  his  ancestral 
residence,  and  there  he  lived  with  his  five  sons,  the  head 
man  of  the  village,  looked  up  to  and  respected  by  its 
inhabitants. 

Apparently  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  when  the  in- 

1  A  similar  atrocity  took  place  in  our  nineteenth  century  in  Algeria 
when  General  Pelissier  in  like  manner  smothered  Kabyles  in  a  cave, 

•  See  "Judas  Maccabaeus  and  the  Jewish  War  of  Independence," 
by  C.  R.  Conder,  R.  E.,  one  of  the  English  officers  employed  in  the 
exploration  of  Palestine. 

9 


130  JUDEA. 

evitable  day  should  arrive  bringing  the  king's  officers  to 
Modin,  he  and  his  sons  would  not  try  to  escape  into  the 
mountains,  but  would  remain  and  abide  the  issue,  if  need 
were,  as  martyrs  and  confessors,  or  if  not  they  would  set  their 
countrymen  an  example  of  successful  resistance  to  intolerable 
wrong;  for  "  Wherefore  should  we  live  any  longer?"  are 
the  words  with  which  he  closed  a  piteous  lamentation  over 
the  desecration  of  the  Temple  and  the  destruction  of  the 
Holy  City. 

They  had  not  long  to  wait.  In  due  course  the  king's 
officers  who  were  enforcing  apostasy  came  into  their  city. 
Doubtless  much  to  their  surprise,  they  did  not,  as  usual, 
find  the  place  almost  deserted.  Many  people  were  gath- 
ered there,  foremost  among  whom  stood  Mattathiah  and  his 
five  handsome,  athletic  sons. 

Apelles,  the  king's  commissioner,  erected  an  altar  to 
Jupiter  and  then  addressing  himself  to  Mattathiah  invited 
him  "  to  come  forth  and  do  the  command  of  the  king," 
promising  him  honor  and  riches,  and  that  he  and  his  sons 
should  be  included  in  the  chosen  band  of  what  were  called 
"The  King's  Friends,"  if  he  would  advance  and  burn 
incense  on  the  altar.  But  Mattathiah  answered  and  said 
with  a  loud  voice,  that  his  words  might  be  heard  by  all  the 
crowd  that  surrounded  him  :  "  If  all  the  nations  that  are  in 
the  house  of  the  king's  dominion,  hearken  unto  him  to  fall 
away,  each  one  from  the  worship  of  his  fathers,  and  have 
made  choice  to  follow  his  (that  is,  the  king's)  command- 
ments, yet  will  I  and  my  sons  and  my  brethren  walk  in  the 
covenant  of  our  fathers.  Heaven  forbid  that  we  should 
forsake  the  Law  and  the  ordinances.  We  will  not  hearken 
unto  the  king's  words  to  go  aside  from  our  worship  on  the 
right  hand  or  on  the  left." 

Alarmed  at  this  defiance,  which  might  well  entail  the  de- 
struction of  all  dwellers  in  the  village,  an  apostate  stepped 
forward  to  offer  the  required  sacrifice.  Mattathiah's  very 
soul  blazed  with  indignation.  The  spirit  of  his  great 
ancestor  Phineas  rose  up  within  him.  He  sprang  upon  the 
renegade  and  cut  him  to  the  ground.  A  tumult  ensued,  in 


ANTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES.  131 

which  Apelles  and  his  retinue  were  slain,  and  the  altar  raised 
to  Jupiter  was  overthrown. 

Then  again  Mattathiah  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice : 
"Whosoever  is  zealous  for  the  Law,  and  maintained!  the 
covenant,  let  him  come  forth  after  me  !  "  "  And,"  says  the 
chronicler,  "  he  and  his  sons  fled  into  the  mountains  and 
forsook  all  that  they  had  in  the  city." 

In  the  mountains  he  was  speedily  joined  by  other  refugees 
from  Modin  and  the  surrounding  country,  driving  before 
them  their  flocks  and  herds.  Daily  the  band  enlarged,  and 
soon  it  sought  the  rocky  desert  of  eastern  Judea,  Jeshimon, 
the  Wilderness  of  Tekoa  or  Bethaven,  the  scene  formerly 
of  David's  adventurous  life. 

Before  long  this  region  was  almost  peopled  with  men 
"  zealous  for  the  Law,'-'  among  them  bands  of  poor  and 
pious  Chasidim.  But  Mattathiah  took  exception  to  the 
scrupulosity  which  would  have  withheld  these  extreme 
Puritans  from  lifting  their  hands  in  self-defence  upon  the 
Sabbath  day.  He  made  it  a  rule  that  righting  for  the  Law, 
if  its  friends  were  attacked  upon  the  Sabbath,  was  not 
violating  the  sanctity  of  the  Holy  Day. 

The  Chasidim  of  the  wilderness  bore  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  the  Covenanters  and  Cameronians  of  Scotland 
who  lived,  fought,  prayed,  preached,  and  were  martyred 
two  centuries  before  our  own  day. 

Among  the  followers  of  Mattathiah  as  in  the  army  of  the 
Covenant,  there  were  two  parties,  the  extremists  and  those 
who  aimed  chiefly  at  liberty  and  justice  ;  though  even  these 
last  seem  to  have  been  less  eager  to  repulse  the  Syrians  than 
to  punish  and  massacre  renegade  Jews. 

They  made  bold  raids  into  Judea,  overthrowing  heathen 
altars,  slaughtering  apostates,  and  circumcising  by  force 
children  whose  parents  had  not  dared  to  fulfil  the  Law. 
Multitudes  of  Jews  who  had  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  cir- 
cumstances in  dread  of  the  fury  of  their  rulers  fled  from 
their  avenging  countrymen  and  took  refuge  among  the 
Syrians  in  the  strong  fortress  of  Akra,  which  dominated 
Jerusalem.  Other  apostates  received  the  patriots  readily, 


132  JUDEA. 

many  doubtless  taking  their  part  to  avert  present  danger, 
ready  when  the  right  time  came  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  the 
winning  side. 

Old  Mattathiah  in  the  year  167  B.C.  felt  that  his  end 
drew  near.  He  assembled  his  sons  and  divided  among 
them  his  authority.  John  naturally  succeeded  him  as  head 
of  the  Asmonean  family,  Simon,  his  second  son,  a  man  of  ac- 
knowledged wisdom,  he  appointed  to  succeed  him  in  coun- 
sel ;  but  his  third  son,  Judas,  he  made  commander-in-chief. 
These  appointments  excited  no  jealousy  among  the  breth- 
ren. The  five  were  closely  united  in  affection,  in  days  when 
fraternal  disputes  were  the  disgrace  of  reigning  families  in 
the  Orient. 

Besides  John,  Simon,  and  Judas,  there  were  Eleazar  and 
Jonathan,  who  in  due  season  became  memorable  among 
their  countrymen.  There  was  never  among  them  the 
smallest  trace  of  rivalry.1 

In  the  last  address  of  Mattathiah  to  his  sons  he  exclaimed  : 
"  And  now,  my  children,  be  ye  zealous  for  the  Law,  and  give 
your  lives  for  the  covenant  of  your  fathers.  Render  a 
recompense  to  the  Gentiles,  and  take  heed  to  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Law." 

"And  he  blessed  them;  and  was  gathered  to  his  fathers 
.  .  .  and  his  sons  buried  him  in  the  sepulchres  of  his 
fathers  at  Modin,  and  all  Israel  made  great  lamentation 
over  him." 

1  The  names  given  subsequently  to  the  five  sons  of  Mattathiah 
were  as  follows:  to  John,  or  Johanan,  Caddis,  "the  Holy;"  to 
Simon,  Thassi,  the  Promise  of  Spring;  to  Judas,  Maccabaeus,  or  the 
Hammerer;  Eleazar  was  called  Avaran,  the  Beast-sticker;  Jonathan, 
Apphus,  the  Diplomatic,  or  the  Cunning. 

The  name  Asmonean,  borne  afterwards  as  a  dynastic  name  by  the 
whole  family,  was  derived  from  Hasmon,  or  Asmon,  the  great-grand- 
father of  Mattathiah.  Why  his  name  was  held  in  especial  honor  by 
his  descendants,  we  do  not  know.  Nothing  is  said  of  him  in  history 
or  in  tradition. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

JUDAS   MACCABEUS. 

JUDAS,  the  " Hammer  of  God,"  appointed  by  his  father 
to  be  commander-in-chief  of  the  Jewish  patriots,  was 
by  nature  a  man  of  war,  courageous,  cool,  and  daring,  and 
apparently  he  was  wholly  free  from  any  thought  of  personal 
ambition.  Until  shortly  before  his  death,  he  took  no  share 
in  politics,  —  he  left  politics  to  his  brother  Simon.  His 
part  of  the  work  was  to  fight  for  the  Law,  —  love  for  which 
in  a  man  of  his  time  and  race  was  equivalent  to  our  love 
of  country,  and  he  was  ready  to  die  for  it  if  such  were  the 
will  of  God. 

We  may  indeed  say  that,  like  other  saintly  enthusiasts 
whose  deeds  are  recorded  in  history,  he  had  little  regard  for 
others'  religious  liberty  while  strenuously  defending  his  own. 

"  He  was  surely,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  a  pillar  in  the 
world's  history.  He  saved  Judaism.  He  saved  us  the 
Bible.  .  .  .  He  was  one  of  the  world's  necessary  heroes.  .  .  . 
He  played  an  important  part  in  the  education  of  mankind." 

Judas  had  no  regular  force  to  oppose  to  the  trained 
mercenaries  in  the  Syrian  legions,  but  he  had  no  hesitation 
in  confronting  them.  Apollonius,  the  king's  representative 
in  Samaria  and  Judea,  the  man  who  had  set  up  an  idol  in 
the  Temple  and  massacred  thousands  of  unresisting  Jews 
in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  on  the  Sabbath  day,  raised  an 
army,  recruited  in  part  by  renegade  Jews  and  Samaritans. 
In  a  first  battle,  probably  fought  not  far  from  Jerusalem, 
Apollonius  was  killed ;  Jewish  tradition  said  that  he  fell  in 
a  hand-to-hand  encounter  with  Judas  himself.  At  any  rate, 
Judas  took  his  sword,  which  served  him  ever  after  in  his 
battles.  His  followers  had  fought  the  fight  ill-armed,  but 


134  JUDEA. 

they  supplied  themselves  with  weapons  from  the  field  of 
battle. 

Another  army,  led  by  a  general  named  Seron,  this  time 
more  largely  composed  of  mercenaries,  at  once  marched 
against  the  insurgents  now  flushed  with  victory.  "  I  will 
make  myself  a  name,  and  get  me  glory  in  the  kingdom," 
said  Seron ;  "  and  I  will  fight  Judas  and  them  that  are  with 
him,  that  set  at  nought  the  word  of  the  king." 

The  little  company  of  Jews  watching  from  the  cliffs  that 
overhung  the  road  leading  up  the  steep  pass  of  Bethhoron 
were  alarmed  when  they  saw  the  mighty  host  arrayed 
against  them,  but  Judas  exhorted  them,  saying :  "  With 
Heaven x  it  is  all  one  to  save  by  many  or  by  few,  for 
victory  in  battle  standeth  not  in  the  multitude  of  a  host ; 
but  strength  is  from  heaven." 

Thus  encouraged,  his  little  band,  though  fasting,  swooped 
suddenly  upon  the  Syrian  host  as  it  was  painfully  toiling  up 
the  rocky  pass  of  Bethhoron.  Its  general  was  slain  in  the 
first  shock,  and  his  followers  were  routed  with  great 
slaughter.  After  this  the  fear  of  Judas  and  his  brethren 
began  to  fall  on  all  the  neighboring  countries.  He  him- 
self hurried  from  village  to  village  with  incredible  activity. 
Those  who  had  not  apostatized  joined  his  forces.  Those 
who  had,  he  slew. 

Dean  Stanley's  description  of  him,  drawn  from  the  third 
chapter  of  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees,  stirs  our  blood.2 

"He  became  the  Jewish  ideal  of  'the  Happy  Warrior.'  There 
was  '  a  cheerfulness '  diffused  through  the  whole  army  when  he 
appeared.  His  countrymen  delighted  to  remember  his  stately 
appearance  as  of  an  ancient  giant,  when  he  fastened  on  his 
breastplate,  or  tightened  his  military  sash  around  him,  or 
waved  his  protecting  sword  (the  sword  of  Apollonius)  over  the 
camp  of  his  faithful  followers.  They  listened  with  delight  for 
his  loud  cheer,  like  the  roar  of  a  young  lion,  as  he  hunted  down 
the  enemies  of  God.  But  the  lasting  honor  which  they  pathet- 
ically revered  as  the  climax  of  all,  was,  that  with  a  true  chivalry 
he  received  such  as  were  ready  to  perish." 

1  i  Maccabees  iii.  18,  19. 

'2  Stanley's  "  Jewish  Church,"  vol.  iii. 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  135 

The  guerilla  warfare  Judas  inaugurated  lasted  two  years, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  and  his  companions  became 
trained  warriors.  The  Syrians  had  struck  no  root  in  the 
land.  The  difficulties  throughout  the  Syrian  Empire  caused 
by  the  reckless,  short-sighted  administration  of  Antiochus, 
grew  daily  more  alarming.  The  revolt  of  Judea,  no  longer 
the  local  rising  of  a  petty  district  peopled  by  herdsmen, 
became  of  public  consequence,  and  threatened  the  integrity 
of  the  empire.  Antiochus  Epiphanes  found  it  necessary  to 
suppress  it,  but  his  treasure-chests  were  empty.  The  vast 
sums  plundered  from  the  Temple  had  been  squandered  in 
magnificent  games  which  lasted  thirty  days,  near  Antioch, 
in  which  King  Antiochus  exhibited  himself  as  a  competitor, 
and  even  as  a  buffoon,  before  the  astonished  eyes  of  his 
subjects. 

The  taxes  in  his  eastern  provinces,  Babylonia,  Elymas, 
Persia,  and  Media,  were  in  arrears,  probably  because  that 
part  of  his  dominions  had  been  invaded  by  the  Parthians. 
One  piece  of  bad  news  after  another  came  pouring  into 
Antioch  from  the  East. 

Antiochus  resolved  to  lead  a  great  expedition  into  that 
part  of  his  dominions.  When  he  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  army  he  divided  his  forces  with  Lysias,  a  nobleman 
of  the  blood  royal,  appointing  him  regent  of  all  his  prov- 
inces west  of  the  Euphrates,  and  guardian  of  his  son 
Antiochus,  then  a  child.  His  last  command  to  Lysias 
was  that  he  should  march  an  army  into  Judea,  exterminate 
all  male  Jews,  sell  their  women  and  children  into  slavery, 
and  plant  a  foreign  colony  in  their  land. 

To  fulfil  this  command  Lysias  at  once  made  great  prep- 
arations. He  appointed  Ptolemy  Dorimenes  Governor  of 
Coele-Syria,  and  gave  him  the  direction  of  the  campaign. 
This  Ptolemy  had  been  formerly  an  Egyptian  officer,  in- 
trusted with  the  defence  of  Cyprus,  who  had  deserted  to 
Antiochus,  and  thus  received  his  reward.  Under  him  were 
two  generals,  Nicanor  and  Gorgias,  who  with  a  large  army 
were  to  undertake  the  campaign.  Nicanor  considered 
their  success  so  certain  that  he  had  invited  to  his  camp 


136  JUDEA. 

slave-dealers  from  the  Phoenician  cities  to  traffic  in  such 
prisoners  as  might  escape  being  slain. 

This  time  the  adversaries  of  Judas  avoided  the  danger- 
ous pass  of  Bethhoron,  and  advanced  upon  Jerusalem  from 
the  west.  Judah  massed  his  forces  at  Mizpah.  His  fol- 
lowers were  no  longer  a  band  of  fanatics  ready  to  die  for 
the  Law,  they  were  a  small  army  organized  into  regiments 
and  battalions. 

With  fervent  piety  they  made  ready  for  the  fight  with 
prayer  and  fasting.  The  military  tactics  of  their  com- 
mander are  admired  to  this  day.  The  victory  he  achieved 
has  been  called  the  Maccabean  Austerlitz. 

"  From  a  high  rocky  platform  on  the  ridge  of  Mizpah," 
says  Dean  Stanley  in  his  "  Jewish  Church,"  "  the  place 
where  Alexander  is  said  to  have  met  the  high-priest  Jaddua, 
and  where,  after  the  Chaldean  capture  of  Jerusalem,  pil- 
grims met  to  wail  over  the  Holy  City,  Judas  and  his  follow- 
ers gazed  down  on  the  deserted  streets  of  the  beloved 
Jerusalem,  its  gates  closed  as  if  it  had  been  a  besieged 
town,  on  the  silent  precincts  of  the  Temple,  and  on  the 
Greek  fortress  of  Akra.  Before  that  distant  presence  of 
the  Holy  Place  to  which  they  could  gain  no  nearer  access, 
the  patriot  soldiers  mourned  with  ashes  on  their  heads. 
They  spread  out  a  copy  of  the  Law  on  which  the  Greeks 
had  painted  in  mockery  pictures  of  heathen  deities.  They 
waved  the  sacerdotal  vestments,  for  which  there  was  now 
no  use.  They  showed  the  animals  and  the  vegetables  due 
for  '  the  first  fruits,'  and  '  tithes.'  They  marched  in  long 
procession,  the  Nazarites  first  with  their  flowing  hair,  who 
were  unable  to  complete  their  vows  in  the  Sanctuary.  At 
the  close  of  the  sorrowful  ceremony  there  was  a  blast  of 
trumpets,  and  the  army  was  sifted  of  its  half-hearted  or 
pre-engaged  members "  —  in  obedience  to  the  law  laid 
down  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy. 

Then  Judas  led  his  army  by  a  long  night  march  of 
twenty  miles  through  the  passes  of  Bethhoron,  and  at 
dawn  they  found  themselves  upon  an  eminence  whence  they 
could  see  the  enemy.  Then  in  a  spirited  address,  ending 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  137 

in  devout  prayer  to  God,  that  the  host  they  saw  before 
them  might  be  cast  down  by  the  sword  of  those  who  loved 
Him,  Judas,  having  arrayed  himself  for  battle,  announced 
that  the  next  morning  he  should  attack  the  enemy.  "  For 
it  is  better  for  us  to  die,"  he  said,  "  than  to  behold  the 
calamities  of  our  people  and  our  sanctuary." 

The  fight  was  to  take  place  not  far  from  Modin.  The 
Syrian  general  Nicanor  learned  of  the  intention  of  Judas 
through  his  spies.  He  planned  to  surprise  his  enemies 
in  their  camp  that  night ;  for  this  object  he  despatched  a 
considerable  force  under  Gorgias.  But  Judas,  who  had 
also  spies  at  work,  was  informed  of  his  intention ;  as 
night  fell  he  made  his  men  take  food,  and  then  ordered 
them  to  light  bright  fires  in  their  camp,  which  he  at  once 
deserted,  and  quietly  drew  off  his  forces.  He  led  them  by 
mountain  paths  which  he  well  knew,  towards  the  plain  of 
Ajalon,  approaching  the  main  body  of  the  Syrian  army  on 
its  flank,  as  it  lay  encamped  in  a  valley. 

Gorgias,  when  he  reached  the  silent  Jewish  encampment, 
found  it  empty,  and  concluding  that  Judas  and  his  men 
had  sought  refuge  in  the  mountains,  he  followed  their  sup- 
posed trail  into  the  hill  country,  in  hot  pursuit. 

Meantime  the  trumpets  of  Judas  sounded,  and  his  forces 
joined  battle  with  the  Syrians  who  were  entrenched  in 
their  camp  near  Emmaus.  Although  the  patriot  force 
was  small,  their  attack  was  so  completely  a  surprise  that, 
after  a  fierce  fight,  they  gained  a  decisive  victory  over 
Nicanor. 

All  was  over,  the  camp  near  Emmaus  was  in  flames,  and 
the  army  of  Nicanor  was  fleeing  towards  the  country  of 
the  Philistines,  when  Gorgias,  with  his  army,  returned,  de- 
scended from  the  mountains,  heard  the  din  of  battle,  and 
saw  black  smoke  ascending  from  the  burning  tents  of  the 
camp  that  he  believed  himself  to  have  left  in  safety.  He 
was  preparing  to  attack  Judas,  when  his  Syrians  were 
seized  with  a  panic,  and  followed  the  retreating  forces  of 
Nicanor. 

An  immense  booty  fell   into  the    hands  of  the  victors, 


138  JUDEA. 

amongst  it  the  slave  merchants,  and  the  money  they  had 
brought  to  buy  the  women  and  children  of  Judean  soldiers. 
Gorgias  took  refuge  in  the  stronghold  of  Akra.  Nicanor, 
disguised  as  a  slave,  reached  Antioch,  where  he  is  said  to 
have  justified  his  want  of  success  by  declaring  to  Lysias 
"that  the  God  who  fought  for  the  Jews  was  indeed 
mighty,  and  that  it  was  worse  than  useless  to  attack  them." 

Lysias,  however,  did  not  give  up  his  attempt  to  carry  out 
his  master's  will.  He  raised  another  army,  and  this  time 
approached  Jerusalem  from  the  southwest.  Another  en- 
gagement ensued,  and  Lysias  retreated  to  Antioch,  where 
he  endeavored  to  recruit  another  army  of  mercenaries. 

Judas  did  not  at  once  proceed  to  besiege  Jerusalem. 
Much  as  he  must  have  had  its  recovery  at  heart,  he  saw 
that  there  was  still  work  to  be  done  in  the  surrounding 
country.  But  in  a  short  time  nothing  hindered  him  from 
recapturing  Jerusalem,  and  purging  the  Temple  from  the 
"abomination  of  desolation."  The  position  of  the  fortress 
of  Akra  was  so  strong  that  he  did  not  think  it  desirable  to 
attempt  to  wrest  it  from  the  Syrians ;  but  Syrian  archers, 
shooting  across  the  great  ravine  into  the  Temple  courts, 
would  be  likely  to  disturb  religious  services,  when  they 
should  be  resumed  by  faithful  worshippers.  The  walls  of 
the  city  had  been  thrown  down  by  Apollonius,  and  Judas 
found  no  difficulty  in  penetrating  into  the  precincts  of  the 
Temple.  The  renegades  fled  to  the  protection  of  the 
Syrian  garrison  in  Akra. 

Horrible  to  Jewish  eyes  must  have  been  the  spectacle 
seen  by  Judas  and  his  followers  when  they  entered  the 
sacred  courts  of  the  Temple.  All  was  uncleanness,  destruc- 
tion, and  desecration.  Tall  weeds  and  shrubs  were  growing 
everywhere,  under  whose  shade  lascivious  heathen  orgies 
had  been  carried  on.  The  priests'  chambers  were  torn 
down,  the  gates  were  burnt.  "  We  can  almost  picture  to 
ourselves,"  says  a  member  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Expedition,  "  the  desolation  of  the  Holy  House  by  a  com- 
parison with  the  present  condition  of  some  parts  of  the 
Temple  area." 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  139 

While  part  of  the  army  set  to  work  at  once  to  clear 
pagan  horrors  from  the  courts,  another  part  kept  the  gar- 
rison at  Akra  in  check,  and  hindered  their  interference 
with  the  workers. 

The  statue  of  Jupiter  and  its  pedestal  were  broken  in 
small  pieces,  and  the  accursed  fragments  were  flung  into 
a  loathsome  place  outside  the  city.  The  ancient  altar, 
which  had  been  once  the  altar  of  sacrifices  offered  to 
Jehovah,  had  been  defiled  by  abominable  sacrifices  offered 
on  a  heathen  altar  raised  above  it  by  the  Syrians.  Its  stones, 
therefore,  were  carefully  laid  aside  until  a  prophet  should 
arise  who  could  declare  what  it  was  God's  will  should  be 
done  with  them.  They  remained  where  they  were  placed 
until  the  destruction  of  the  Temple.  What  then  became 
of  them  is  unknown. 

Priests  who  had  no  taint  of  Hellenism  were  appointed 
according  to  the  Levitical  code ;  probably  without  implicit 
regard  to  the  new  rules  laid  down  by  the  party  of  the 
Zadokites;  and  everything  that  concerned  the  Temple 
and  its  services  was  committed  to  their  care.  Things 
were  restored,  as  far  as  possible,  to  the  state  in  which 
they  had  been  three  years  before.  The  veils,  the  holy 
vessels,  the  seven-branched  candlestick,  and  the  table 
of  shew-bread  were  made  anew.  "  Exactly  three  years 
after  the  profanation  of  the  Temple,  at  earliest  dawn," 
says  the  Rabbi  Raphall,  "the  priests'  trumpets  were 
sounded,  a  new  fire  was  kindled  on  the  altar  by  the  striking 
of  two  fire  stones,  and  so  soon  as  the  flames  ascended  to 
heaven,  the  lamb  of  the  daily  sacrifice  was  offered,  the 
lamps  were  lighted,  the  usual  portion  of  incense  was 
burned,  and  every  other  part  of  the  divine  service  was  per- 
formed according  to  the  Law  of  Moses ;  and  from  that  day 
it  was  not  again  discontinued  until  the  last  siege  of 
Jerusalem  by  Titus."  x 

The  day  was  in  truth  one  of  great  triumph  for  Israel, 

1  "  Post-Biblical  History  of  the  Jews,"  by  Dr.  Morris  Raphall, 
M.A.,  rh.D.,  Rabbi  preacher  at  the  Synagogue,  Greene  Street,  New 
York,  1855. 


140  JUDEA. 

and  in  memory  of  it  a  new  festival  was  established  called 
the  Feast  of  Lights,  which  to  this  day  is  observed  in  Jewish 
communities.  A  band  of  pious  Jews,  none  of  them  bred 
to  arms,  with  Levites  for  their  leaders,  had  succeeded  in 
wresting  their  Temple  from  one  of  the  great  powers  of  the 
earth,  with  a  large  force  at  its  disposal.  No  wonder  they 
sang  songs  of  triumph  (Psalm  xxx.  and  Psalm  Ixviii.  were 
particularly  sung)  and  that  feasting  and  rejoicing  celebrated 
the  occasion. 

Lysias  had  drawn  off  his  forces  to  Antioch.  Judea  at 
length  was  in  possession  of  the  Jews.  We  know  not  pre- 
cisely the  motives  which  induced  Lysias  to  retreat,  but  his 
heart  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in  full  accordance  with 
the  orders  of  his  sovereign.  His  adversary  had  but  ten 
thousand  men,  and  even  after  his  discomfiture  he  himself 
had  still  sixty-five  thousand.  He  may  have  been  worked 
upon  by  the  feeling  expressed  by  Nicanor,  which  seems 
to  have  made  a  great  impression  on  the  Syrians,  viz.,  that 
it  was  useless  to  measure  strength  with  the  God  of  the  Jews. 

There  now  arose  a  Jewish  dynasty  in  Judea,  sovereigns 
who  were  not  of  the  house  and  lineage  of  David.  That 
royal  race  seemed  set  aside  and  forgotten.  The  new 
dynasty  sprang  from  the  tribe  of  Levi.  They  were  the 
descendants  of  Asmon,  whose  name,  being  interpreted, 
means  "  The  Magnate."  They  were  the  sons  of  Matta- 
thiah,  and  are  known  in  history  as  the  Asmoneans. 

Alas  !  though  this  dynasty  was  founded  by  heroes,  in  a 
generation  or  two  it  displayed  all  the  worst  faults  of  other 
Oriental  dynasties  ;  "  to  which  it  added,"  says  M.  Renan, 
"  the  narrowness  and  intolerance  of  degenerate  Jews." 

For  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  recapture  of  Jerusalem, 
Judas  Maccabaeus  reigned  almost  as  a  sovereign  over  his 
people.  As  there  was  no  high-priest,  for  the  infamous 
Menelaus  was  shut  up  with  the  Syrians  in  Akra,  and  as  the 
Maccabees,  though  not  Zadokites,  were  of  the  house  of 
Aaron,  Judas,  without  being  regularly  inaugurated,  seems 
to  have  exercised  the  high-priest's  functions.  Akra  was 
the  only  spot  in  Judea  that  remained  in  possession  of  the 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  141 

king  of  Syria.  This  fortress  was  filled  with  renegade  Jews, 
who  must  have  led  a  miserable  life  in  their  enforced  cap- 
tivity. Lysias,  absorbed  in  other  cares,  could  not  find 
time  to  attack  Judea,  and  Judas  fortified  the  courts  of  the 
Temple. 

He  also  built  a  stronghold  at  Bethsura,  to  which  the 
Chasidim  might  flee  if  forced  to  evacuate  the  sacred  city. 

In  all  ages  and  in  all  parts  of  the  earth,  Jews  have 
unhappily  been  objects  of  dislike  to  the  nations  that  have 
surrounded  them.  Apart  from  the  Christian  prejudice 
against  them,  fostered  by  the  Church  in  the  middle  ages, 
their  exclusiveness  (accompanied  by  a  sense  of  their  own 
superiority  while  conscious  that  others  were  disposed  to 
treat  them  with  disdain)  and  their  separation  through  ob- 
servance of  their  Law  from  the  domestic  life  of  other 
nations,  are  causes  why,  in  spite  of  many  virtues,  they  have 
never  enjoyed  favor  with  the  populations  around  them. 

The  nations  that  dwelt  upon  the  borders  of  Palestine 
looked  with  no  sympathy  on  the  Maccabean  revolt.  The 
re-establishment  of  worship  in  the  Temple  still  further 
roused  their  hostility ;  especially  it  renewed  the  enmity  of 
the  Samaritans.  Jews  were  murdered  by  surrounding 
peoples.  Many  were  seized  and  sold  as  slaves.  Judas 
Maccabaeus  held  it  to  be  his  duty  to  avenge  his  co-relig- 
ionists, and  in  doing  so  he  showed  small  mercy. 

The  Idumeans,  that  is,  the  Edomites,  who  had  possessed 
themselves  of  all  the  southern  part  of  Palestine,  were 
severely  punished ;  so  were  the  Ammonites,  in  spite  of  a 
large  army  they  had  collected  and  placed  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Timotheus,  a  very  skillful  general.  But  Judas  pene- 
trated their  country  to  the  edge  of  the  vast  forest  lands 
of  Mount  Gilead,  where  he  encountered  Timotheus  and 
defeated  him. 

On  his  return  to  Judea  he  was  harassed  by  continual 
complaints  from  Jews  in  northern  Palestine,  many  of  whom 
had  quitted  Babylonia  to  settle  in  that  region,  thus  avoid- 
ing submission  to  the  rigorous  rule  prevailing  in  Jerusalem. 
Under  the  cruel  despotism  and  weak  administration  of 


142  JUDEA. 

Antiochus,  all  Syria  and  Ccele-Syria  had  fallen  into  anarchy ; 
and  the  Jews  vehemently  asserted  that  the  heathen  who 
lived  among  them  "held  the  knife  always  to  their  throats." 
Judas  sent  his  brother  Simon  with  a  force  of  three  thou- 
sand men  into  Galilee,  while  he  himself,  with  his  brother 
Jonathan,  dealt  with  the  Ammonites  and  Amorites  beyond 
Jordan,  who,  having  recovered  from  their  late  defeat,  were 
taking  vengeance  for  it  on  the  Jews  who  lived  among  them. 
A  sufficiently  strong  force  under  two  generals,  Joseph  the 
son  of  Zacharias,  and  Azarias,  was  left  to  protect  Jerusalem. 

Timotheus  was  once  more  defeated  by  Judas,  while  in 
northern  Palestine  Simon  pushed  his  advance  to  the  west- 
ward, as  far  as  Ptolemais,  now  called  Acre.  The  object  of 
these  expeditions  was  not  merely  to  punish  outrages,  but  to 
draw  in  the  scattered  Jews,  to  induce  them  to  seek  security 
in  Judea,  and  to  strengthen  the  band  of  Jewish  defenders 
who  "  stood  as  a  wall "  around  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple. 
The  hosts  of  both  brothers  guarded  a  long  train  of  emi- 
grants of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  when  they  returned  victo- 
rious to  their  homes. 

The  captains  left  to  defend  Jerusalem  during  the  absence 
of  Judas  and  his  brothers  had  been  strictly  ordered  to 
abstain  from  taking  the  offensive ;  but  they  were  rash  and 
self-confident.  They  attacked  a  village  in  which  Gorgias, 
the  Syrian  general,  chanced  to  be  at  the  moment,  and  suf- 
fered defeat.  But  Judas  had  now  become  a  brilliant  soldier 
—  a  military  chief.  Although  himself  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  he 
disapproved  of  the  participation  of  the  Temple  priests  in 
military  affairs.  His  object  was  not  conquest,  but  the 
liberation  of  Judea.  "  Judea  for  the  Jews  !  "  might  have 
been  his  war  cry,  but  he  adopted  a  far  nobler  one,  "  God 
is  our  help  ! "  and  he  was  pursuing  a  career  of  great  activity 
and  success  when  news  came  to  him  of  the  death  of  Anti- 
ochus Epiphanes,  who  had  been  engaged  in  disastrous 
warfare  in  the  eastern  provinces  of  his  vast  empire.  He 
had  followed  the  example  of  his  father  by  seizing  the  wealth 
laid  up  in  the  great  temples,  to  repair  the  depletion  of  his 
treasury.  He  breathed  his  last  in  an  obscure  village  in 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  143 

Persia,  as  he  was  returning  to  Babylon  after  plundering  a 
famous  temple  of  Artemis  (the  Eastern  Diana) .  His  son, 
who  was  only  nine  years  old,  succeeded  him.  On  his  death- 
bed he  expressed  his  dissatisfaction  with  Lysias,  and  ap- 
pointed Philip,  one  of  his  generals,  to  be  guardian  of  the 
young  prince  and  regent  of  the  kingdom,  and  in  token  of 
this  appointment  placed  the  royal  diadem  and  signet-ring 
in  his  hands.  Lysias,  however,  having  possession  of  the 
person  of  the  young  king  Antiochus  Eupator,  ignored  the 
death-bed  wishes  of  his  late  sovereign,  and  retained  both 
the  person  of  his  ward  and  his  power. 

Judas  Maccabaeus,  as  his  strength  and  authority  in- 
creased, naturally  desired  to  capture  Akra.  He  attacked 
it  furiously,  but  it  was  defended  with  the  courage  of 
despair.  The  besieged,  knowing  the  fate  that  awaited 
them  if  they  surrendered,  or  if  the  place  fell,  contrived  to 
send  urgent  appeals  to  Antioch,  and  Lysias,  accompanied 
by  the  young  king,  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  relieve  them. 
He  marched  into  Judea  with  a  larger  army  than  he  had 
ever  assembled  before,  and  at  a  village  called  Beth- 
zachariah,  not  far  from  Bethlehem,  a  terrible  battle  was 
fought,  in  which  Judas  and  his  followers  were  outflanked 
and  defeated.  Extraordinary  heroism  was  displayed  by 
the  Jews,  but  the  disciplined  soldiers  of  Syria  proved  too 
much  for  men  trained  in  guerilla  warfare.  It  was  in  this 
battle  that  Eleazar,  the  brother  of  Judas  Maccabasus,  earned 
his  surname  of  Avaran,  or  the  Beast-sticker.  Lysias  had 
with  him  not  only  one  hundred  thousand  infantry  and 
twenty  thousand  cavalry,  but  he  had  also  thirty-six  trained 
elephants.  This  probably  was  the  first  time  that  the  "  huge 
earth-shaking  beast  "  had  been  seen  by  the  Jews.  But 
Eleazar,  observing  that  one  of  these  monsters  was  larger 
than  the  rest,  and  royally  caparisoned,  imagined  he  was 
bearing  the  young  king.  Regardless  of  his  own  jeopardy 
he  crept  under  the  belly  of  the  elephant,  and  plunged  his 
sword  into  its  vitals.  As  it  fell  its  weight  crushed  its 
destroyer. 

The  result  of  the  battle  of  Beth-zachariah  seemed  likely 


144  JUDEA. 

to  overthrow  all  that  had  been  gained  by  the  heroic  efforts 
of  Mattathiah  and  his  sons.1  Judas  fled  into  the  hill 
country  to  the  north  of  Jerusalem,  and  for  some  time 
seems  to  have  remained  in  hiding.  It  is  probable  that  he 
never  again  entered  the  Holy  City,  although  he  gained 
another  battle  over  the  Syrians,  and  took  part  in  some 
political  intrigues.  There  was  evidently  a  reaction  against 
him.  The  party  of  the  Chasidim  thought  his  policy  too 
worldly-minded.  But  the  main  body  of  his  followers  was 
not  cast  down.  Its  members  wailed,  but  with  a  heart  of 
hope,  and  above  all  —  they  prayed. 

Lysias,  profiting  by  his  victory  at  Beth-zachariah,  occu- 
pied the  important  fortress  of  Bethsura,  which  surrendered 
to  him  for  want  of  supplies.  This  stronghold  has  always 
been  supposed  to  have  had  its  site  on  a  hill  near  the  road 
leading  from  Jerusalem  to  Hebron,  but  lately  a  gentleman 
connected  with  the  work  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund 
went  in  search  of  some  ruins  that  might  decide  its  location. 
He  found  nothing  satisfactory,  and  it  is  now  conjectured 
that  Bethsura  may  have  been  near  Jerusalem  —  indeed,  on 
the  middle  top  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  where  now  stands  a 
village  whose  name  is  the  Arabic  version  of  the  Hebrew 
Beth-zur. 

After  capturing  Bethsura,  whose  garrison  he  did  not 
treat  with  cruelty,  Lysias  laid  siege  to  the  now  fortified 
Temple.  No  attempt  had  been  made  to  provision  it  in 
case  of  siege.  There  were  crowds  of  Jews  brought  from 
Gilead  and  Galilee  within  its  precincts,  and  these  only 
helped  to  consume  the  scanty  store  of  food.  Then,  too,  the 
year  (163  B.  c.)  was  a  Sabbatical  year,  so  that  famine  was 
soon  felt  all  over  Judea,  war  having  exhausted  the  supplies. 

But  suddenly  Lysias  was  recalled  to  Antioch  by  news 
that  his  rival  Philip  had  reached  that  city,  and  that  the 

1  An  account  of  this  battle  of  Beth-zachariah  is  fully  and  most 
graphically  given  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees, 
but,  strange  to  say,  by  Rabbi  Raphall,  whose  work  is  generally  so 
fair  (though  written  of  course  with  some  prejudice  in  favor  of  his 
countrymen),  it  is  treated  as  a  victory  for  Judas,  not  a  defeat. 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  145 

forces  Antiochus  had  led  into  the  East  were  returning  to 
oppose  him.  Already  their  advanced  guard  was  on  the 
borders  of  Syria. 

It  was  beginning  to  be  perceived  by  Lysias  and  his  coun- 
sellors, as  well  as  by  the  Jews,  that  the  policy  pursued  by 
Antiochus  had  been  deplorable.  "  Now,  therefore,"  said 
Lysias,  "let  us  give  the  right  hand  to  these  men,  and 
make  peace  with  them,  and  with  all  their  nation,  and  cov- 
enant with  them  that  they  shall  walk  after  their  own  laws,  as 
aforetime,  for  because  of  these  laws  which  we  abolished 
they  were  angered  and  did  all  these  things." 

There  is  some  reason  to  think  that  Lysias  may  have  been 
influenced  by  the  sentiments  of  his  general  Nicanor,  and 
dreaded  the  power  of  the  Divine  Protector  of  the  Jews. 
It  is  said  that  he  even  advised  the  young  king  to  put  to 
death  the  high-priest  Menelaus,  who  had  given  his  father 
evil  counsel.  The  feeling  among  the  Syrian  generals  was 
that,  if  possible,  the  sad  quarrel  should  be  speedily  and 
peacefully  settled.  They  were  weary  of  righting  in  the 
interest  of  a  small  body  of  Hellenist  Jews.  Judas  seemed 
to  have  lost  his  power.  His  uncompromising  party  had 
suffered  defeat,  and  scattered  and  disorganized  as  were  now 
his  forces,  they  seemed  no  longer  formidable. 

There  remained  a  party  of  sincere  Jews  who  had  never 
apostatized,  and  at  most  had  only  shown  some  weakness. 
These  did  not  share  the  extreme  views  of  the  Chasidim 
nor  the  burning  desire  of  Judas  to  effect  the  complete  in- 
dependence of  Judea  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Syrians. 
The  moderate  Jews  limited  their  demands  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  disastrous  policy  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and 
permission  for  the  nation  to  live  under  its  own  religious 
laws. 

As  enlightened  Syrians  held  the  same  views,  a  good 
understanding  became  possible,  and  while  the  siege  of  the 
Temple  still  continued,  conferences  were  held  by  moderate 
men  on  both  sides. 

It  is  said  that  Roman  commissioners  in  Syria  —  Q.  Mem- 
mius  and  T.  Manlius  —  used  their  influence  in  favor  of  the 


146  JUDEA. 

Jews.  In  these  conferences  no  reference  seems  to  have 
been  made  to  Judas  Maccabseus ;  that  hero  had  passed  out 
of  consideration. 

Peace  was  accordingly  concluded  on  the  basis  of  religious 
liberty.  The  Jews  were  to  be  free  to  observe  their  Law, 
and  to  follow  their  ancient  customs,  the  end  for  which  a 
five  years'  war  had  been  carried  on ;  and  the  arrangement 
was  satisfactory  to  all,  except  the  most  ardent  partisans  of 
the  party  of  resistance.1 

The  young  king  Antiochus  was  admitted  into  the  courts 
of  the  Temple  with  an  understanding  on  the  part  of  the 
Jews  that  nothing  on  the  Temple  Mount  should  be  dis- 
turbed. He,  however,  caused  the  walls  that  enclosed  it  to 
be  thrown  down. 

The  next  question  that  came  up  for  consideration  was 
both  important  and  perplexing.  Was  Menelaus  —  a  man 
equally  detested  by  Jews  and  Syrians  —  to  return  to  his  holy 
office?  While  worship  in  the  Temple  was  suspended  there 
had  been  no  need  for  a  high-priest.  Menelaus  had  been 
at  Antioch  living  among  the  Syrians,  and  after  the  Temple 
had  been  cleansed  and  the  daily  sacrifices  and  feasts  re- 
stored, it  is  probable  that  Judas  himself,  being  of  the 
priestly  family,  fulfilled  the  high-priest's  functions.  Mene- 
laus, however,  still  kept  the  official  title.  To  cut  the 
Gordian  knot  of  this  perplexity,  Lysias  and  his  pupil  had 
Menelaus  removed  to  Aleppo,  where  he  was  smothered  to 
death  in  a  tall  tower  filled  with  ashes,  a  barbarous  mode  of 
execution  reserved  for  men  of  rank.  In  his  place  the 
Syrians  nominated  a  man  named  Jokim  or  Jehoiakim,  who 
was  of  the  sacerdotal  family.  According  to  the  fashion  of 
the  day  he  took  a  Greek  name,  and  called  himself  Alcimus. 
When  the  army  of  Lysias  retired,  he  was  left  behind  with  a 
small  body  of  troops  to  govern  Jerusalem. 

Judas    Maccabseus    took    no    part    in    the    new   treaty 

with  the   Syrians.     He  was  busy  reforming  his  army   and 

strengthening   his  party  of  patriots.     From  time  to  time 

such  Syrians  as  remained  to  keep  order  in  the  land   sent 

1  Cf.  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  iv. 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  147 

out  parties  against  the  patriot  guerillas,  but  after  striking 
a  sudden  blow  these  forces  disappeared,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  rural  districts  were  left  to  their  old  ways. 

A  year  after  the  conclusion  of  a  religious  peace  in  Pales- 
tine, Demetrius,  eldest  son  and  rightful  heir  of  Seleucus 
Philopater  (and  a  nephew  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  who  had 
usurped  his  throne),  escaped  from  Rome,  where  for  fourteen 
years  he  had  been  detained  as  a  hostage,  and  landed  at 
Tripolis  on  the  coast  of  Syria.  He  brought  with  him  only 
a  few  hundred  soldiers,  but  the  army  of  Lysias  seems  to 
have  been  ready  to  revolt.  They  seized  their  general  and 
the  young  king  Antiochus  Eupator,  put  them  to  death,  and 
declared,  for  Demetrius.  A  party  of  Hellenist  Jews,  headed 
by  the  high-priest  Alcimus,  made  haste  to  wait  on  the  new 
king,  accusing  Judas  Maccabseus  of  having  driven  Jews  who 
favored  the  Greeks  from  homes  in  their  own  land. 

The  rule  of  Alcimus  in  Jerusalem  had  been  very  weak. 
Both  parties,  the  Hellenists  and  the  Chasidim,  uttered 
"  railing  accusations "  against  him.  These  complaints 
induced  Demetrius,  now  established  at  Antioch,  to  investi- 
gate the  state  of  things  in  his  province  of  Judea.  He  sent 
a  high  commissioner  to  Jerusalem,  to  inquire  into  the  facts, 
and  to  support  (by  force  of  arms  if  necessary)  the  authority 
of  Alcimus. 

This  commissioner's  name  was  Bacchides,  a  general  high 
in  favor  with  the  new  king.  He  had  rank,  courage,  and 
ability,  but  he  was  beyond  measure  cruel  and  arbitrary. 
The  Chasidim  at  Jerusalem  had  never  objected  to  Alcimus 
as  an  authorized  high-priest.  They  opposed  him  upon  other 
grounds.  Bacchides  made  arbitrary  arrests  of  men  who 
came  to  him  for  mere  purposes  of  conference.  He  even 
put  sixty  of  a  deputation  to  death  at  once  and  filled  a  well 
with  their  dead  bodies. 

At  length  he  returned  to  Antioch,  leaving  a  strong  force 
of  Syrian  soldiers  with  Alcimus,  who  was  not,  by  himself, 
strong  enough  to  preserve  order  in  Jerusalem,  and  when  he 
attempted  it  he  only  increased  his  unpopularity. 

Meantime  Judas  Maccabaeus  was  becoming  daily  stronger, 


148  JUDEA. 

but  he  did  not  leave  the  mountain  districts,  where  he  was 
organizing  a  patriot  army.1  His  countrymen  found  that 
they  had  now  to  make  choice  between  him  and  the  Hel- 
lenist Jews,  who  were  unable  to  rally  the  bulk  of  the  nation, 
which  began  to  perceive  that  Judas,  after  all,  was  right,  and 
that  no  real  good  was  to  be  hoped  for  from  the  Syrians. 

Alcimus  went  to  Antioch,  and  explained  this  state  of 
affairs  to  the  new  king.  The  result  was  that  Nicanor  was 
sent  to  Judea  with  a  fresh  army,  but  his  mission  was  less  to 
fight  than  to  negotiate.  He  proved  both  treacherous  and 
vindictive.  He  laid  a  snare  for  Judas,  which  the  Jewish 
hero  managed  to  escape.  Judas  subsequently  defeated 
him  in  a  slight  engagement  and  forced  him  to  fall  back 
on  Akra. 

Nicanor,  after  this  repulse,  was  not  ill  received  in  Jerusa- 
lem. The  priests  showed  him  how,  under  the  direction  of 
Alcimus,  they  were  offering  sacrifices  to  Jehovah  to  procure 
His  favor  for  their  Syrian  sovereign ;  Nicanor  scorned 
their  advances.  He  was  rough  and  threatening,  and  de- 
clared, with  a  fierce  gesture,  that  if  Judas  did  not  surrender 
to  him  he  would  set  fire  to  the  Temple. 

The  Syrian  and  Jewish  armies  were  then  within  sight  of 
each  other,  and  early  in  the  year  161  B.C.  they  fought 
another  pitched  battle  at  Adasa,  a  place  not  far  from  Modin. 
Nicanor's  forces  were  defeated  and  himself  killed.  His 
head  and  the  hand  with  which  he  had  menaced  the  Tem- 
ple were  cut  off  and  hung  up  on  the  highway,  beside  the 
Eastern  Gate  of  Jerusalem.  The  country  was  all  in  favor 
of  Judas.  Peasants  intercepted  and  slew  the  fugitive  sol- 
diers of  Nicanor.  A  feast  was  instituted  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  victory,  which  was  kept  for  two  centuries  in 
Jerusalem.  It  fell  on  the  same  day  as  the  Feast  of  Purim. 

If  Judas  ever  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Rome 
(which  M.  Renan  thinks  doubtful,  but  which  is  rendered 

1  The  Rabbi  Raphall  seems  to  think  that  Judas  was  made  Gover- 
nor of  Judea  when  peace  was  concluded  with  Lysias,  but  there  is  no 
evidence  for  this  in  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees.  The  Rabbi  may 
have  followed  some  tradition  in  the  Talmud. 


JUDAS  MACCABJEUS.  149 

probable  by  many  corroborative  circumstances)  it  was  at 
this  period.  Rome  was  becoming  very  powerful  in  the 
East.  It  had  acquired  a  strong  hold  over  the  kings  of 
Syria ;  it  had  assisted  other  feeble  kingdoms  or  provinces  in 
Asia  to  oppose  them  ;  it  was  the  declared  enemy  of  De- 
metrius Soter,  and  it  seems  a  priori  probable,  especially  if 
Roman  commissioners  at  Antioch  had  used  their  influence 
with  Lysias  in  favor  of  the  Jews,  that  Judas  should  have 
turned  to  Rome  in  his  extremity.  At  any  rate  there  is  a 
very  full  account  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  First  Maccabees  of 
the  embassy  he  sent  to  the  Roman  Senate.  That  account 
contains  some  blunders,  not  unnatural  from  the  pen  of  a 
provincial,  unfamiliar  with  the  constitution  of  the  Roman 
republic,  but  it  contains  also  a  full  account  of  Rome's  do- 
ings in  the  East  during  the  reign  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
and  of  the  feeling  her  power  and  greatness  excited  among 
Greeks  in  the  Oriental  world.  We  have  also  an  account  of 
the  same  period  from  the  pen  of  Polybius,  a  contemporary 
historian,  several  of  whose  books  are  now  lost  to  the  world. 
The  Jewish  document,  which  is  too  long  to  quote  here, 
but  which  may  be  read  in  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees,1  be- 
gins thus : — 

"  Now  Judas  had  heard  of  the  fame  of  the  Romans,  that  they 
were  mighty  and  valiant  men,  and  such  as  would  lovingly  ac- 
cept all  that  joined  themselves  unto  them  ;  and  made  a  league 
of  amity  with  all  that  came  unto  them,  and  that  they  were  men 
of  great  valor.  It  was  told  him  also  of  the  wars  and  noble  acts 
which  they  had  done  among  the  Galatians,2  and  how  they  had 
conquered  them,  and  brought  them  under  tribute,  and  what 
they  had  done  to  the  country  of  Spain8  for  the  winning  of  the 
mines  of  the  silver  and  gold  which  is  there,  and  that  by  their 
policy  and  patience  they  had  conquered  every  place,  though  it 
was  very  far  from  them,  and  the  kings  that  came  against  them 
from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  till  they  had  discomfited 
them,  and  given  them  a  great  overthrow,  so  that  the  rest  did 
give  them  tribute  every  year." 

1  i  Maccabees  viii.  1-16. 

2  The  Gauls,  or  possibly  the  Gauls  settled  in  Galatia,  subdued  by 
Manlius  Varro  twenty  years  before. 

8  The  Second  Punic  War. 


150  JUDEA. 

The  author  of  the  Book  of  Maccabees  goes  on  to  com- 
memorate other  Roman  victories, — 

"  how  they  destroyed  and  brought  under  their  dominion  all  other 
kingdoms  and  isles  that  at  any  time  resisted  them,  .  .  .  and 
(finally)  that  they  were  greatly  exalted,  yet  that  for  all  that 
none  of  them  wore  a  crown,  or  was  clothed  in  purple  to  be 
magnified  thereby." 

In  consideration  of  these  things  Judas  chose  two  ambas- 
sadors who  had  taken  Grecian  names,  and  sent  them  to 
Rome  to  make  a  treaty  of  amity  with  so  powerful  a  nation. 

The  Roman  senate,  always  glad  to  find  occasion  to  inter- 
fere in  the  affairs  of  any  foreign  people,  lent  a  favorable 
ear  to  the  ambassadors,  and  a  copy  of  the  treaty  of  amity 
is  given  in  Maccabees  by  which  the  Romans  pledged  them- 
selves to  help  the  people  of  the  Jews  with  all  their  heart, 
in  case  of  any  warlike  demonstration  against  them  —  the 
same  obligation  towards  the  Romans  being  binding  on  the 
Jews. 

This  treaty  had  an  important  influence  on  the  fortunes 
of  Judas,  though  in  a  different  way  from  that  which  he  had 
planned.  Bacchides  collected  another  army.  Alcimus  the 
high-priest  marched  with  him.  Judas  with  about  three 
thousand  men  was  not  far  off,  but  his  men  lost  heart.  It  is 
possible  that  many  were  reluctant  to  bear  arms  against  the 
high-priest.  The  Rabbi  Raphall  tells  us  that  the  foreign 
policy  of  Judas  was  distasteful  to  those  who  had  most  faith- 
fully followed  his  banners.  He  even  gives  a  Jewish  tradi- 
tion that  the  leader  of  the  Chasidim,  on  the  eve  of  battle, 
said  to  his  commander,  "  Is  it  not  written  :  Cursed  be  the 
man  who  placeth  his  dependence  in  flesh,  while  from  the 
Lord  his  heart  departeth?"  With  these  words  he  with- 
drew, and  with  him  so  many  of  his  followers  that  only  eight 
hundred  were  left  with  their  great  captain.  The  officers  of 
Judas  urged  him  to  retire  until  he  could  collect  a  larger 
force,  but  he  answered  "  God  forbid  that  I  should  do  this 
thing,  and  flee  away  !  Retreat  before  these  men?  Never! 
If  our  time  be  come  let  us  die  manfully  for  our  brethren 
and  let  us  not  stain  our  honor  !  " 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS.  151 

With  some  of  his  bravest  followers  he  flung  himself  upon 
the  right  wing  of  Bacchides,  and  gained  a  partial  victory, 
but  he  was  then  crushed  by  the  Syrians  on  the  left. 

We  can  hardly  say  that  he  fell  in  the  midst  of  his  tri- 
umph, for  his  party  was  suppressed  for  several  years.  But 
his  cause  was  to  revive.  The  fruits  of  his  heroism,  as  is 
the  case  in  the  history  of  most  heroes,  were  to  be  reaped  in 
after  years  by  others. 

The  rule  of  the  Seleucidae  in  Palestine  had  in  fact  come 
to  an  end.  Though  some  men  may  call  Judas  a  fanatic  he 
was  fighting  in  the  cause  of  the  human  race. 

"  The  great  courageous  soul  of  Judas,"  says  M.  Renan, 
"  was  that  of  a  man  of  the  people."  His  body  was  lifted 
from  the  field  of  battle,  and  he  was  buried  at  Modin  in  the 
sepulchre  of  his  fathers.  In  after  years  a  splendid  monu- 
ment was  erected  over  them. 

The  last  fight  of  his  life  took  place  in  a  district  perhaps 
the  most  rugged  in  Palestine.  Its  valleys  are  surrounded 
by  mountains  the  highest  in  Judea,  from  whose  summit 
may  be  discerned  the  snowy  peak  of  Hermon  in  Galilee, 
and  a  distant  glimpse  may  be  obtained  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.  The  valley  was  in  old  times  the  boundary 
between  Benjamin  and  Judah,  and  Bethel  was  not  far  from 
the  spot  where  this  battle  took  place. 

The  public  life  of  Judas  had  lasted  only  eight  years. 


CHAPTER  X. 

JONATHAN,   BROTHER   OF  JUDAS. 

"  1\I  ®^'  at  ^e  death  °f  Judas,"  exclaims  the  author  of 

^  ^  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees,  "  the  wicked  sprang 
up  like  grass  upon  the  mountains,  and  the  workers  of  ini- 
quity flourished  on  every  side." 

The  country  was  in  a  terrible  condition,  —  worse  than  any- 
thing that  had  been  felt  since  days  of  old.  It  had  been 
ravaged  by  six  years  of  ruthless  warfare,  and,  in  addition  to 
all  this,  there  was  a  famine  in  the  land. 

The  answer  of  the  Roman  Senate  to  the  ambassadors 
sent  by  Judas  Maccabseus  did  not  reach  Judea  until  after 
that  hero's  death.  The  proposals  that  he  made  had  been 
favorably  received.  The  reply  of  the  Senate  was  engraved 
on  brass  and  sent  to  Jerusalem,  that  it  might  be  treasured 
by  the  Jewish  people  "  for  a  memorial  of  peace  and  con- 
federacy." The  Senate  also  advised  Judas  and  his  adher- 
ents that  warning  had  been  sent  to  King  Demetrius  that  he 
was  not  "to  make  his  yoke  heavy  "  upon  Rome's  new  allies ; 
but  this  warning  must  have  arrived  too  late  to  prevent  the 
campaign  which  resulted  in  the  overthrow  and  death  of 
Judas  Maccabaeus  at  Eleasa. 

The  whole  land  fell  into  the  power  of  Bacchides,  the 
Syrian  general ;  who,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  such  raids 
as  Judas  had  made  among  the  villages  in  search  of  rene- 
gades, garrisoned  and  strongly  fortified  many  fortresses  and 
cities ;  hoping  that  they  might  serve  as  places  of  refuge  for 
moderates  and  Syrian  sympathizers.  Akra  was  enlarged, 
and  in  it  were  confined  as  hostages  the  children  of  leading 
Jews  suspected  of  disaffection  to  the  Syrian  government. 

The  high-priest  Alcimus  proposed  to  break  down  in  the 


JONATHAN,  BROTHER   OF  JUDAS.  153 

Temple  the  screen  of  partition  which  separated  Gentile 
worshippers  from  Jews,  but  this  brought  furious  remon- 
strances from  the  pietists.  They  considered  it  would  be 
subversive  of  the  Law  ;  and  when  Alcimus  was  stricken  with 
paralysis  as  the  work  was  about  to  begin,  they  considered 
it  a  just  judgment  sent  upon  him  by  the  hand  of  God. 

After  the  death  of  Alcimus  the  office  of  high-priest  re- 
mained vacant  for  seven  years.  This  interregnum  led  in 
the  end  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  family  of  Mattathiah,  — 
the  Asmonean  dynasty. 

Meantime  the  Chasidim,  together  with  the  main  body 
of  the  people,  were  not  slow  to  recognize  the  ingratitude 
with  which,  in  a  moment  of  blind  bigotry,  they  had  treated 
their  noble  leader.  Everywhere  oppressed  and  maltreated 
by  the  Syrians  and  by  the  followers  of  Alcimus,  they  began 
to  flock  around  Jonathan,  the  brother  of  Judas,  the  youngest 
of  his  family,  and  chose  him  for  their  leader.  Jonathan 
had  less  military  genius  than  his  illustrious  brother,  but  he 
bravely  accepted  a  post  which  he  could  not  but  perceive 
was  hedged  about  with  dangers. 

Bacchides  had  made  himself  master  of  Judea,  and  open 
war  against  his  armies  was  impossible.  Jonathan  and  his 
brother  Simon,  with  their  whole  band,  resolved  to  take 
refuge  in  the  wilderness,  where  the  national  movement  had 
grown  up  eight  years  before.  They  fell  back,  therefore,  be- 
yond Tekoa,  and  encamped  near  a  great  water-tank  called 
the  Well  of  Asfar.  There  Jonathan  and  his  comrades  led 
the  life  of  Bedouin  Arabs,  very  much  as  David  had  done 
on  the  same  rocky  moors.  They  were  on  good  terms  with 
the  Nabathean  Arabs1  who  lived  beyond  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
put  into  their  charge  their  wives,  children,  and  cattle.  A 
complete  epic  of  their  adventures  at  this  period  was  sung 
in  the  desert,  like  Arabian  tales,  and  a  portion  of  the  poem 
is  still  in  existence.2  Especially  famous  was  their  fight 
with  a  hostile  Arab  tribe,  the  sons  of  Jambri.  John  Mac- 
caboeus,  surnamed  Gaddis,  had  been  intercepted  and  killed 

1  Descendants  of  Nebaioth,  the  eldest  son  of  Ishmael. 

2  i  Maccabees  ix.  37-41. 


154  JUDEA. 

by  men  of  this  tribe  while  conveying  some  "booty  to  the 
custody  of  the  Nabatheans.  His  brother  Jonathan  made 
haste  to  avenge  him.  Learning  that  a  man  of  rank  among 
the  Beni  Jambri  was  about  to  wed  the  daughter  of  a  neigh- 
boring Arab  chief,  he  and  a  party  of  his  followers  crossed 
the  Jordan,  and  concealing  themselves  behind  rocks  in  the 
desert,  watched  the  bridal  procession  as,  with  drums  and 
other  music,  it  marched  joyously  on  its  way.  Then  as  the 
expectant  bridegroom  and  his  friends  came  forth  to  meet 
the  procession,  the  Jews  darted  from  their  ambush,  fell 
upon  the  bridal  party,  and  killed  all  who  did  not  escape  to 
the  hills.  "  Thus,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  was  the  marriage 
turned  into  mourning,  and  the  noise  of  their  melody  into 
lamentation." 

When  news  of  this  exploit  reached  the  Syrian  general, 
coupled  with  the  information  that  Jonathan  and  his  men 
were  beyond  Jordan,  Bacchides,  knowing  that  his  soldiers 
would  be  safe  from  attack  upon  the  Sabbath  day,  seized  the 
fords  and  crossed  safely  over  the  river. 

The  position  of  Jonathan  was  very  perilous  ;  he  seems  to 
have  been  in  a  loop  of  land  near  where  the  Jordan  flows 
into  the  Dead  Sea,  but  it  so  often  overflows  its  banks  that 
the  place  is  called  the  Marsh.  Before  him  flowed  the  river, 
while  around  him  was  dense  jungle,  and  marshy  ground. 

Jonathan,  with  the  military  eloquence  which  had  often 
animated  the  soldiers  of  his  brother,  cried  out  to  his 
followers  :  "  Come  on,  and  let  us  fight  for  our  lives ;  for 
it  is  not  now  as  it  was  in  time  past  [when  we  fought 
from  advantageous  positions  on  the  hills]  ;  ye  see  plainly 
that  the  battle  is  before  us  and  behind  us  [the  sons  of 
Jambri  in  our  rear],  and  the  water  of  the  Jordan  is  on  this 
side  and  on  that;  the  morass  likewise,  and  the  wood. 
Neither  is  there  any  place  left  for  us  to  turn  aside.  There- 
fore now  cry  ye  unto  Heaven,  that  ye  may  be  delivered 
from  the  hand  of  your  enemies." 

This  speech  reanimated  the  courage  of  the  Jews,  and 
they  fought  valiantly.  But  the  Syrians  felt  themselves  se- 
cure of  their  prey.  Then  Jonathan  and  his  men,  all  armed 


JONATHAN,   BROTHER   OF  JUDAS.  155 

as  they  were,  leaped  into  the  river,  and  swam  to  the  oppo- 
site bank.  The  soldiers  of  Bacchides,  more  heavily  armed, 
did  not  attempt  to  follow  them.  The  Syrian  general,  we 
know  not  precisely  why,  —  for,  though  foiled,  he  had  not 
suffered  a  defeat,  —  went  back  to  Jerusalem.  It  is  said  that 
in  the  melee  Bacchides  and  Jonathan  encountered  each 
other,  and  that  the  Jewish  leader  was  about  to  strike  the 
Syrian  a  powerful  stroke,  when  Bacchides  avoided  it ;  and 
ever  after  he  seems  to  have  held  Jonathan  in  personal 
esteem. 

"  It  was  by  this  dash  of  soldierly  temper  in  the  Asmonean 
blood,  that  that  family,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  kept  up  the 
energy  which  asceticism  often  frets  away.  .  .  .  We  may 
picture  to  ourselves  the  government  of  the  Seleucidse  as  we 
do  that  of  all  Oriental  governments,  that  of  Turkey  in 
particular,  which  really  exists  only  in  the  towns.  It  never 
penetrates  into  the  mountains,  never  ventures  into  the 
deserts.  They  thus  become  the  mustering  places  of  bold 
spirits,  who  live  together  a  life  of  entire  freedom,  holding 
themselves  in  reserve  for  what  the  future  may  bring  to 
pass." 

For  some  years  after  this,  Bacchides  retired  to  Antioch, 
and,  Alcimus  being  laid  in  his  grave,  things  went  on  quietly 
in  Judea.  There  was  less  blood  shed  than  there  had  been 
any  time  during  the  Syrian  dominion.  Jonathan  did  not 
continue  the  punitive  raids  by  which  his  brother  had 
sought  to  terrify  apostate  Jews.  Mutual  hatreds  were  less 
bitter  than  they  had  been.  The  band  of  Judas  Macca- 
bseus,  patriots  and  saints  when  he  held  the  command, 
adopted  the  habits  of  Bedouin  Arabs.  There  was  energy 
among  them,  and  discipline,  but  it  was  of  the  Arab  fashion. 
Day  by  day  they  acquired  more  and  more  the  character  of 
a  free  company,  ready  to  take  service  with  whoso  would 
employ  them. 

Bacchides,  during  his  administration  of  Judea,  had  not 
always  resided  in  Jerusalem,  though  all  the  affairs  of  his 
province  passed  through  his  hands.  It  seems  as  if  the 
Syrian  government,  relinquishing  its  hope  of  forcing  re- 


156  JUDEA. 

ligious  conformity  among  the  Jews,  became  indifferent  to 
the  disputes  of  the  religious  parties  in  Jerusalem,  and 
leaned  first  to  one  and  then  to  the  other  according  to 
circumstances. 

Jonathan,  in  the  wilderness  or  among  the  marshes  of  the 
Jordan  (at  this  day  covered  by  a  jungle  impenetrable  to 
soldiers  or  police),  lived  remote  from  government  and  from 
authority. 

His  followers  discovered  near  one  of  their  haunts  the 
ruined  remains  of  a  fortress  called  Beth-Basi.1  They  were 
not  at  that  time  on  good  terms  with  the  Arabs  in  their 
neighborhood,  or  with  the  sheikh  of  a  more  distant  tribe, 
called  Odomara.  These  men  persuaded  Bacchides  that 
with  their  assistance  it  would  be  easy  to  capture  Jonathan 
and  his  band. 

A  surprise  was  contemplated,  but  it  turned  out  a  failure. 
The  band  got  warning,  seized  fifty  men  who  were  in  the 
plot,  and  slew  them.  Then  Bacchides  laid  siege  to  Beth- 
Basi.  Jonathan,  leaving  the  fort  in  charge  of  his  brother 
Simon,  stole  out  and  attacked  Odomara  and  the  other  hos- 
tile Arabs.  He  came  upon  them  in  their  tents,  defeated 
them,  and  bore  off  many  prisoners.  Whilst  he  was  thus 
engaged  Simon  made  a  successful  sortie,  and  contrived  to 
burn  the  wooden  siege  engines  of  Bacchides.  While  the 
Syrians  in  confusion  were  trying  to  extinguish  the  conflagra- 
tion, Jonathan  returned,  and  together  with  Simon,  attacked 
the  Syrians  vigorously.  The  Jews  fared  best  in  the  en- 
counter. This  so  enraged  Bacchides  against  Odomara  and 
the  other  Arabs  who  had  drawn  him  into  the  misadventure, 
that  he  caused  several  of  them  to  be  put  to  death. 

We  know  little  about  this  affair ;  its  records  are  incom- 
plete. What  we  do  know  is,  that  what  began  with  hostility 
ended  with  reconciliation.  Jonathan  sent  agents  to  Jeru- 
salem to  negotiate  a  peace.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
Roman  interference  in  his  favor  suggested  its  terms.  A 
complete  amnesty  was  granted  to  him  and  to  his  people, 
together  with  a  promise  that  no  inquiry  should  be  made 
1  Bethhogla  or  Bethhagla. 


JONATHAN,  BROTHER   OF  JUDAS.  157 

into  their  deeds,  whether  past  or  future.  Prisoners  on 
both  sides  were  to  be  set  at  liberty,  and  Jonathan  with  his 
armed  force,  together  with  the  captives  now  released,  not 
only  ceased  to  be  criminals  and  rebels,  but  passed  without 
any  interval  of  time  into  the  service  of  that  government 
against  whose  authority  they  had  been  in  arms  for  many 
years. 

Such  changes  are  not  uncommon  or  remarkable  in  Eastern 
lands ;  for  example,  in  the  case  of  Akil  Aga  during  the 
events  in  Syria  in  i860.1 

Enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  Syrian  king  and  clothed 
with  the  protection  and  powers  of  his  government,  Jonathan, 
who  by  the  terms  of  the  peace  was  not  to  live  in  Jerusalem, 
took  up  his  residence  in  Michmash,  on  the  borders  of  the 
wilderness,  a  city  in  a  naturally  strong  position.  The  first 
use  he  made  of  his  authority  was  to  drive  out  from  it  all 
l-  the  ungodly,"  that  is,  renegade  or  apostate  Jews. 

For  some  reason  unknown  to  us,  Bacchides  at  this  time 
quarrelled  with  the  Hellenists  in  Jerusalem,  to  whom  he  had 
previously  looked  for  support,  and  "  he  now  found  in 
Jonathan's  band  exactly  the  force  he  needed  to  assist 
him.  They  were  soldiers  trained  by  long  experience  in 
the  wilderness,  with  a  chief  whose  love  of  order  and 
whose  personal  valor  ensured  the  pacification  of  the 
country."  2 

Meantime  disturbances  in  the  tottering  empire  of  Syria 
had  great  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  the  Jews.  A  fresh 
revolution  took  place  in  Antioch,  and  gave  new  hope  to 
such  provinces  as  wished  to  become  independent. 

Demetrius,  whose  escape  from  Rome  when  a  hostage  the 
Senate  had  never  forgiven,  had  further  provoked  the 
Romans  by  his  intrigues  with  princes  of  neighboring  Asiatic 
countries.  He  had  also  offered  large  bribes  to  the  Egyptian 
governor  of  Cyprus  to  make  the  island  over  to  him,  and 
he  had  shown  no  alacrity  in  obeying  the  command  of  the 
Roman  Senate  in  his  dealings  with  the  Jews.  With  these 

1  Cf.  Renan. 

2  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  iv. 


158  JUDEA. 

causes  of  dissatisfaction  Rome  aided  and  abetted  a  decep- 
tion set  on  foot  by  certain  petty  princes  on  the  frontier  of 
Syria,  especially  the  King  of  Pergamus,  who,  having  dis- 
covered a  low-born  Syrian  who  bore  a  striking  likeness  to 
Antiochus  Eupator,  had  him  tutored  to  play  the  part  of  that 
monarch's  son,  and  caused  him  to  be  presented  as  such  to 
the  Roman  Senate.  Whether  convinced  of  his  pretensions 
or  not,  it  suited  the  policy  of  Rome  to  acknowledge  him  to 
be  the  heir  of  Antiochus  Eupator ;  and  it  is  curious  to  re- 
mark that  the  mere  fact  of  his  having  received  the  seal  and 
sanction  of  his  pretensions  from  Rome  herself,  seems  to 
have  had  such  influence  on  the  author  of  the  First  Book  of 
Maccabees  and  on  Josephus  (both  of  whom  were  under  the 
spell  of  Rome)  that  they  ventured  to  throw  no  doubt  on 
the  pretensions  of  young  Balas,  who  assumed  the  name  of 
Alexander.  After  his  visit  to  Rome  he  landed  in  Syria 
(153  B.C.),  and  was  at  once  proclaimed  king  by  the  garri- 
son at  Acre.  Jonathan,  who  had  little  reason  to  uphold  the 
cause  of  Demetrius,  skillfully  profited  by  the  fierce  war  that 
ensued,  to  obtain  from  the  chiefs  on  both  sides  an  increase 
of  power.  Demetrius,  hoping  for  his  assistance,  gave  him 
authority  to  raise  troops,  and  restored  the  hostages  confined 
in  Akra.  Jonathan  then  entered  Jerusalem,  where  the 
authority  of  his  family  had  ceased  for  ten  years.  His  per- 
mission to  raise  troops,  he  used  to  enlist  a  band  of  those 
opposed  to  Hellenism,  at  which  terror  fell  upon  apostates. 
Those  who  had  opposed  him  in  the  last  revolt  fled  for  their 
lives.  The  citadel  of  Akra,  and  the  stronghold  of  Bethsura 
were  the  only  places  still  garrisoned  by  Syrian  troops ; 
the  rest  had  been  ordered  northward  to  oppose  the  young 
pretender.  Alexander  Balas,  upon  his  part,  now  began  to 
bargain  for  the  powerful  assistance  of  the  Jewish  leader. 
Demetrius  had  offered  Jonathan  large  bribes,  but  Balas  out- 
bid his  rival.  He  sent  the  chief  a  letter  in  which  he  ad- 
dressed him  as  "  his  brother,"  offered  him  his  friendship, 
and  asked  for  his  in  return ;  appointed  him  high-priest  of 
the  Jews  and  proffered  him  a  purple  robe  and  a  golden 
crown,  —  an  oriental  way  of  causing  him  to  be  recognized  as 


JONATHAN,   BROTHER   OF  JUDAS.  159 

a  vassal-king,  and  also  as  a  man  whom  the  king  delighted 
to  honor. 

On  receiving  this  letter,  Jonathan  submitted  his  decision 
as  to  the  high  priesthood  to  the  advice  of  his  council.  On 
receiving  the  opinion  of  these  chief  men  that  he  ought  to 
accept  the  office,  he  assumed  the  official  robes  of  the  high- 
priest,  which  was  the  mode  of  investiture.  He  was  of  a 
priestly  family,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  although  he  was  not 
descended  from  Joshua,  the  son  of  Josadak.  Without 
scruple,  therefore,  he  made  ready  to  officiate  as  high-priest 
at  the  approaching  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  In  the  mean- 
time he  did  not  neglect  his  military  duties,  but  continued 
actively  to  strengthen  his  army. 

One  great  end  for  which  Judas  and  his  brothers  had  long 
fought  was  thus  accomplished.  The  independence  of 
Judea  was  virtually  attained,  not  alone  by  their  patriotism 
or  courage,  but  by  dissensions  among  rival  pretenders  to  the 
Syrian  throne.  "Towards  the  close  of  the  year  152  B.C. 
Jonathan,  under  a  very  few  restrictions,  was  the  sovereign 
of  Judea."  l 

The  Jews  had  grown  indifferent  to  their  Syrian  rulers, 
but  loyalty  to  their  high-priest  was  in  every  Jewish  heart. 
Time  proved  that  military,  political,  and  priestly  power 
could  not  be  successfully  united  in  one  man ;  but  when 
Jonathan  assumed  the  dignity  of  high-priest,  his  accept- 
ance of  the  appointment  seemed  the  only  way  out  of 
national  difficulties. 

The  only  man  left  of  the  family  of  Zadok,  the  high-priest 
appointed  by  Solomon  to  supersede  Abiathar  (who  was  of 
the  house  of  Ithamar  and  of  the  family  of  Eli),  was  Onias, 
the  son  of  Onias  III. ;  but  Jason,  Menelaus,  and  Alcimus  had 
all,  by  Syrian  appointment,  succeeded  his  father.  He  had 
never  been  recognized  as  heir  to  the  high-priesthood  in 
Judea ;  he  had  lived  from  his  boyhood  among  the  Jews  of 
Alexandria ;  with  Dositheus,  another  Jew,  he  had  been  a 
trusted  servant  of  the  King  of  Egypt,  and  about  this  time 
sought  from  him  permission  to  build  a  temple  at  Leon- 

1  i  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  iv. 


160  JUDEA. 

topolis,  as  nearly  as  possible  like  that  of  Jerusalem,  in 
fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  Isaiah,  which  he  interpreted  as 
approving  of  his  scheme.1  This  imitative  temple  long  sur- 
vived. It  lasted  five  years  after  Titus  destroyed  the  Temple 
at  Jerusalem,  when  it  also  was  destroyed  by  Vespasian. 

Demetrius,  when  he  found  that  Alexander  Balas  had 
secured  the  friendship  and  alliance  of  Jonathan,  addressed 
a  proclamation  to  the  Jewish  people,  in  which  he  avoided 
any  mention  of  Jonathan,  but  promised  remission  of  all 
taxes,  and  numerous  other  tempting  things.  "  This 
letter,"  says  Rabbi  Raphall,  "  is  extremely  curious,  show- 
ing the  extent  of  the  ramifications  of  the  manifold  and 
vexatious  exactions  which  the  kings  of  Syria  imposed  upon 
their  subjects.  As  such  it  bears  a  remarkable  resemblance 
to  the  decree  passed  in  France  on  the  memorable  night  of 
Aug.  4,  1789,  by  the  Constituent  Assembly,  abolishing 
forever  the  exactions  imposed  by  the  Feudal  System." 

Not  long  after  this,  Demetrius  was  defeated  and  killed, 
and  Alexander  Balas,  recognized  by  Rome  as  the  legiti- 
mate descendant  of  Antiochus  Eupator,  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  secure  the  hand  of  Cleopatra,  daughter  of  the 
King  of  Egypt.  The  marriage  took  place  at  Ptolemais 
with  great  pomp.  Jonathan  was  invited  to  attend  it,  and 
was  received  on  the  footing  of  a  brother-sovereign  by  the 
two  kings. 

Certain  Hellenist  Jews  took  this  inappropriate  occasion 
to  approach  Alexander  Balas  with  complaints  against 
Jonathan,  but  they  were  driven,  with  threats,  from  the  royal 
presence,  and  ordered  never  to  renew  such  accusations. 

Five  years  later  (147  B.C.)  another  Demetrius,  son  of 
the  dead  rival  of  Alexander  Balas,  landed  in  Syria,  bring- 
ing with  him  an  army  of  Cretan  mercenaries,  and  pro- 
claimed himself  heir  to  his  late  father's  throne.  Jonathan 

1  At  that  day  there  shall  be  an  altar  to  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  and  a  pillar  in  the  border  thereof  to  the  Lord.  .  .  . 
Yea,  they  shall  worship  with  sacrifice  and  oblation,  and  shall  vow  a 
vow  unto  the  Lord,  and  shall  perform  it."  —  ISAIAH  xix.  19,  21  (Re- 
vised Version). 


JONATHAN,  BROTHER   OF  JUDAS.  l6l 

hastened  to  assist  Balas.  The  Jewish  people  have  always 
been  reluctant  to  renounce  their  allegiance  to  any  sov- 
ereign to  whom  it  has  been  pledged.  Besides  this,  Alex- 
ander Balas,  unlike  any  other  sovereign  of  Syria,  had  been 
faithful  to  his  promises,  and  Jonathan  could  not  but  be 
conscious  that  in  sustaining  him  he  was  acting  in  concert 
with  the  mighty  power  of  Rome.  But  the  reign  of  the 
usurper  was  nearly  at  its  close.  Demetrius  took  Antioch ; 
Alexander  Balas  fled  to  Arabia,  where  he  was  beheaded 
by  an  Arab  chief,  and  the  Egyptian  princess,  his  widow, 
became  the  wife  of  Demetrius,  the  conqueror. 

Jonathan's  earnest  desire  was  to  obtain  possession  of 
Akra,  and  he  thought  that  civil  war  and  anarchy  in  the 
Syrian  kingdom  afforded  him  a  good  chance  for  success. 
As  the  general  and  ally  of  Alexander  Balas  he  had  shown 
skill  in  military  tactics,  and  he  and  his  men  had  become 
renowned  for  generalship  as  well  as  valor.  During  one  of 
his  campaigns  in  the  cause  of  Balas,  Jonathan  had  had 
the  satisfaction  of  destroying  the  ancient  temple  of  Dagon 
at  Ashclod.  When  Balas  had  fallen,  and  all  Syria  was  in  a 
state  of  anarchy,  he  deemed  it  the  right  moment  to  reduce 
the  citadel  of  Akra,  but  the  refugees  in  that  stronghold, 
greatly  alarmed,  implored  help  from  young  Demetrius, 
who  in  great  wrath  hastened  from  Antioch  to  Acre, 
whence  he  sent  to  Jonathan  ordering  him  to  attend  him 
there,  and  in  the  meantime  to  suspend  operations  against 
Akra.  Jonathan  obeyed  this  summons,  and  went  with  a  long 
train  of  soldiers,  priests,  and  elders  to  face  a  probable  peril. 
He  took  with  him  also  great  quantities  of  gold  and  silver, 
besides  other  superb  presents.  By  these  gifts  he  gained 
the  good  will  of  Demetrius,  who  granted  him  everything 
he  asked,  except  the  evacuation  of  Akra.  Three  large 
districts  were  detached  from  Samaria  and  added  to  Judea, 
while  the  tribute  due  from  these  districts  was  compounded 
for  three  hundred  talents  in  ready  money  ($300,000). 
The  later  kings  of  Syria  were  always  in  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties. They  were  kept  in  power  only  by  the  aid  of 
mercenaries. 


1 62  JUDEA. 

If  we  are  surprised  that  after  so  many  disasters  money 
seems  always  to  have  been  abundant  in  Jerusalem,  we  must 
remember  the  rich  offerings  which  yearly  flowed  into  the 
Temple  from  Jews  who  dwelt  in  foreign  lands.  Jonathan, 
too,  in  his  campaigns  and  razzias,  had  probably  acquired 
much  booty.  Nominally,  he  was  a  vassal  of  the  King  of 
Syria,  but  he  was  really  an  ethnarch  or  khedive,  ruling  in- 
dependently in  Jerusalem,  making  treaties  for  his  country, 
and  looking  out  for  her  aggrandizement  and  prosperity. 

The  empire  of  the  Seleucidae  was  hastening  to  its  ruin. 
Demetrius  I.,  Alexander  Balas,  and  Demetrius  II.  had, 
indeed,  put  forward  a  Seleucid  title  to  the  Syrian  throne,  but 
at  length  a  mere  adventurer,  Deodatas,  known  in  history 
by  the  name  of  Tryphon,  aspired  to  the  sovereignty.  He 
was  a  wretch  capable  of  any  crime.  His  revolt  was  mak- 
ing progress  while  Jonathan  was  negotiating  with  Deme- 
trius II.,  and  that  king  was  willing  to  grant  the  ethnarch 
almost  any  terms  he  asked,  provided  he  would  furnish  him 
with  reinforcements.  Jonathan  therefore  sent  to  Antioch 
three  thousand  "  strong  men." 

The  population  of  Antioch  was  on  the  point  of  over- 
throwing Demetrius,  when  these  "strong  men"  arrived, 
and  checked  the  revolution.  They  returned  to  Jerusalem 
laden  with  gifts  and  spoils.  But  Demetrius  was  grateful 
only  for  a  little  while.  With  the  perfidy  of  his  race  he 
shamelessly  broke  his  promises,  and  his  behavior  to 
Jonathan  was  such  that  that  hero  considered  himself  re- 
leased from  his  engagements.  He  formed  an  alliance 
with  Tryphon  and  with  a  boy,  the  son  of  Balas,  whom  he 
had  set  up  as  king  of  Syria,  under  the  title  of  Antiochus  VI. 

Jonathan  was,  in  consequence,  confirmed  by  Tryphon  in 
all  his  offices  and  privileges,  while  his  brother  Simon  was 
made  military  governor  over  all  the  coast  country  from 
Cape  Blanco  (called  the  Ladder  of  the  Syrians)  to  the 
borders  of  Egypt. 

Never  had  Jonathan  shown  more  energy  and  activity. 
Ascalon,  Gaza,  and  Damascus  beheld  him  as  a  conqueror. 
At  one  time,  while  passing  through  Galilee,  he  fell  into  an 


JONATHAN,  BROTHER  OF  JUDAS.      163 

ambush,  was  attacked  by  some  soldiers  of  Demetrius,  and 
in  that  hour  came  near  losing  all  that  he  had  gained  during 
a  long  and  laborious  existence.  He  returned,  however,  in 
safety  to  Jerusalem.  "But  no  man,"  says  M.  Renan, 
"in  those  troubled  times,  could  be  certain  of  having  one 
hour  of  real  security  and  repose." 

Jonathan  seems  never  to  have  laid  down  his  arms,  nor 
in  his  office  of  high-priest  to  have  forgotten  that  he  was  a 
military  leader.  In  all  his  expeditions  he  was  ably  assisted 
by  his  brother  Simon.  Together  they  besieged  and  cap- 
tured the  stronghold  of  Bethsura,  garrisoned  by  apostate 
Jews ;  these  were  not,  however,  massacred,  as  they  expected 
to  be,  but  were  forced  to  flee  the  country,  and  to  give 
place  to  a  new  garrison  of  patriots  and  Chasidim. 

The  Romans  were  now  extending  their  power  and  influ- 
ence into  the  Eastern  world,  but  their  institutions  were 
not  clearly  understood  among  the  Jews,  who,  according  to 
what  is  said  in  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees,  fancied  that 
there  was  but  one  consul  at  Rome. 

Jonathan,  though  trained  as  a  general,  did  not  reign  as  a 
despot.  He  consulted  the  Elders  who  formed  his  council 
upon  all  important  occasions.  Together  they  agreed  on  the 
importance  of  erecting  new  fortifications  for  the  defences 
of  Jerusalem.  Jonathan's  project  was  to  build  up  an  im- 
mensely high  wall  which  would  shut  off  all  communication 
between  Jerusalem  and  Akra.  This  wall  cut  off  the  garri- 
son from  their  water  supply  at  Siloam,  and  prevented  their 
archers  from  molesting  the  worshippers  who  came  up  to 
the  Temple. 

Three  years  passed,  and  Tryphon  began  to  plot  against 
the  boy  king  whom  he  had  set  upon  the  throne  of  Antioch ; 
but  he  foresaw  that  Jonathan,  faithful  to  the  memory  of 
Alexander  Balas,  would  prove  a  most  dangerous  opponent 
to  his  scheme  of  treachery.  He  therefore  resolved  to  get 
the  Jewish  chief  into  his  power.  He  invited  him  to  an 
interview  at  Scythopolis.  There  Jonathan  came  with  a 
strong  force.  By  various  pretexts  Tryphon  succeeded  in 
separating  him  from  the  bulk  of  his  army,  and  drew  him 


164  JUDEA. 

towards  Acre,  promising  to  make  him  master  of  that  im- 
portant city.  Jonathan,  wary  as  he  was  by  nature,  fell  into 
the  snare.  He  entered  Acre  with  only  a  thousand  men. 
The  gates  were  immediately  closed.  Jonathan  was  taken 
prisoner.  His  men  were  massacred,  and  the  heroic  chief 
of  Israel,  now  an  old  man,  fell  into  a  captivity  from  which 
he  was  never  released  (143  B.C.). 

When  news  of  this  disaster  reached  Jerusalem,  his  brother 
and  his  people  believed  him  to  be  dead,  and  mourned  for 
him  as  truly  as  they  had  done  for  Judas  Maccabaeus,  their 
first  patriot  leader.  Although  Jonathan  had  exercised 
the  official  functions  of  a  high-priest,  and  had  had  all  the 
authority  of  a  sovereign,  he  was  never  invested  with  the 
outward  marks  of  royalty.  It  was  his  brother  Simon,  who, 
thirty  years  after  the  first  outbreak  of  the  revolt,  —  years 
that  he  had  spent  in  warfare  and  in  counsel,  —  attained 
such  recognition. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

SIMON   AND   JOHN   HYRCANUS. 

T  T  had  been  long  before  agreed  —  for  the  sons  of 
•^  Mattathiah,  who  lived  in  times  of  sudden  change  and 
frequent  danger,  were  above  all  things  men  of  order  —  that 
in  case  death  or  misfortune  set  Jonathan  aside,  his  place 
should  be  filled  by  Simon,  who  was  considered  to  possess 
great  prudence  and  an  especial  talent  for  government. 

The  position  thus  inherited  by  Simon  was  extremely 
difficult.  Had  there  been  a  strong  government  at  Antioch, 
he  might  easily  have  been  ruined.  But  the  Syro-Greek 
empire  was  falling  to  pieces.  Tryphon  was  little  more 
than  a  captain  of  banditti.  After  the  capture  of  Jonathan, 
he  lost  no  time  in  murdering  the  boy  king,  in  whose  name 
he  had  professed  to  hold  authority,  and  placed  himself  at 
once  upon  his  throne. 

The  first  act  of  Simon  (furious  against  Tryphon)  was 
to  conciliate  Demetrius.  He  sent  him  a  golden  crown  in 
recognition  of  his  claim  to  be  the  lawful  ruler  of  the  Syrian 
empire,  and,  in  return,  asked  remission  of  tribute  for  his 
country,  and  the  recognition  of  Jewish  independence. 
Demetrius  replied  to  his  overtures  by  a  letter  which  was 
in  fact  a  charter  of  independence  for  Judea :  — 

KING  DEMETRIUS  TO  SIMON  THE  HIGH-PRIEST  AND 

FRIEND  OF  KINGS. 

Greeting :  The  golden  crown,1  and  scarlet  robe  which  ye 
sent  us,  we  have  received,  and  we  are  ready  to  make  a  steadfast 
peace  with  you  and  to  write  to  our  officers  to  confirm  the  im- 

1  I  Maccabees  xiii.  36-40.  The  English  translation  says  "palm 
branch."  M.  Renan  translates  it  "a  golden  crown."  Jewish  authors 
also  speak  of  the  offering  made  by  Jonathan  to  Demetrius  as  a 
"  golden  crown." 


1 66  JUDEA. 

munities  which  we  have  granted.  And  whatsoever  covenants 
we  have  made  with  you  shall  stand,  and  the  strongholds  which 
ye  have  builded  shall  be  your  own.  As  for  any  oversight  or 
fault  committed  unto  this  day,  we  forgive  it ;  and  the  crown 
tax  also  which  ye  owe  us ;  and  if  there  was  any  other  tribute 
paid  in  Jerusalem  it  shall  no  more  be  paid.  And  look  who  are 
meet  among  you  to  be  in  our  court,  and  let  them  be  enrolled, 
and  let  there  be  peace  betwixt  us. 

"  And  thus,"  says  the  writer  in  the  First  Book  of  Macca- 
bees, "  the  yoke  of  the  heathen  was  taken  away  from 
Israel." 

From  this  year  (143  B.C.),  the  Jews  dated  their  inde- 
pendence, and  after  receiving  the  letter  of  Demetrius, 
Simon  began  to  exercise  the  chief  prerogative  of  an  inde- 
pendent sovereign  by  putting  his  superscription  on  his 
coins.  Beautiful  shekels  and  half-shekels  were  coined, 
bearing  the  words  "Jerusalem  the  Holy.  Shekel  of  Israel." 
The  Jews  ceased  to  use  the  Syrian  calendar  for  the  cop- 
putation  of  time,  but  dated  everything  from  the  accession 
of  Simon.  All  public  documents  began,  "  In  the  .  .  .  year 
of  the  High-Priest,  Commander  of  the  Army,  and  Prince 
of  the  Nation,  Simon." 

At  this  time  the  nations  who  lived  on  the  frontier  of 
Palestine,  and  who  all  hated  the  Jews,  thought  their 
government  was  weak,  and  that  the  hour  had  come  for 
their  extermination.  Simon,  as  soon  as  his  authority  was 
established,  proceeded  to  drive  Greeks  and  renegades  from 
the  strong  fortresses  that  studded  the  country;  especially 
he  sent  a  considerable  body  of  troops  to  occupy  Joppa. 
Tryphon,  he  heard,  was  coming  down  the  coast  with  an 
army,  having  Jonathan  his  captive  in  his  train,  and  that, 
landing  at  Joppa,  his  design  was  to  assault  Jerusalem. 
Foiled  in  this  purpose,  however,  he  marched  his  troops 
across  Palestine  and  proposed  to  attack  Jerusalem  on  the 
northeast,  but  an  extraordinary  snowstorm  blocked  the 
hill-roads,  and  he  had  to  turn  aside  into  the  plains  of 
Gilead.  There  he  was  met  by  agents  from  Simon,  or  pos- 
sibly by  Simon  himself.  It  was  known  that  he  needed 


CLEOPATRA. 


SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS.  167 

money  to  pay  his  dissatisfied  soldiers,  and  he  demanded  as  a 
ransom  for  Jonathan  one  hundred  talents,  and  the  deliver- 
ance as  hostages  of  his  two  sons. 

Simon  was  well  aware  that  he  could  place  no  trust  in 
the  honor  or  honesty  of  Tryphon,  but  he  could  not  bring 
himself  to  neglect  any  chance  of  saving  his  brother.  He 
paid  the  money,  and  delivered  the  hostages,1  but  Tryphon 
still  kept  possession  of  Jonathan,  and  threatened  to  attack 
Jerusalem.  The  Jews  were  then  eagerly  engaged  in  push- 
ing on  the  siege  of  Akra.  Water  and  provisions  were 
growing  scarce  in  the  citadel,  and  the  garrison  implored 
Tryphon's  assistance.  He  sent  them  a  small  body  of  Arab 
cavalry,  which  proved  of  little  use.  He  then  gave  up  the 
attempt  to  succour  Akra,  and,  disheartened  by  the  obstacles 
he  had  met  with,  began  his  retreat  towards  Antioch,  first 
murdering  the  noble  Jonathan,  whom  he  had  dragged  after 
him  in  his  wanderings.  The  Maccabees  subsequently  re- 
covered the  corpse,  and  it  was  buried  in  the  family  sepul- 
chre at  Modin. 

More  than  ever  the  people  of  Judea  now  turned  their 
eyes  towards  Rome.  Its  power  in  the  East  seemed  con- 
tinually to  increase.  Rome  had  already  rendered  services 
to  the  Jews,  and  might  prove  an  invaluable  protectress  in 
case  they  were  again  engaged  in  a  war  with  Syria.  The 
Romans  were  always  ready  to  help  the  weak  with  a  view 
of  weakening  the  strong,  and  at  this  time,  as  we  know  from 
Latin  sources,  there  was  a  considerable  colony  of  Jews  in 
Rome,  who  may  have  exercised  some  influence  on  their 
nation's  affairs.2 

Simon  ruled  from  143  to  135  B.C.  His  reign  was  pros- 
perous. "The  apostates  were  got  rid  of;  the  lukewarm 
confirmed,  the  poor  were  protected,  the  strongholds  re- 

1  The  sons  of  Jonathan  are  heard  of  no  more  in  history ;  once  in 
the  hands  of  Tryphon  they  were  probably  killed,  but  Jonathan  had 
also  a  daughter.     She  was  married  to  Mattathias  ben  Simon   Psellus, 
and  became  the  ancestress  of  Flavius  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian. 

2  Josephus  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  writing  a  history  of  the 
rule   of  the   Seleucid  kings.     The  work  is  now  unfortunately  lost. 
We  do  not  know  if  it  was  ever  completed. 


1 68  JUDEA. 

paired  and  provisioned,  the  Temple  was  embellished,  and 
its  sacred  vessels  were  made  richer  still."  l 

Gezer  and  Joppa  were  made  Jewish  cities.  In  Gezer 
Simon  built  himself  a  house,  and  made  his  home  there. 
We  are  told  that  when  a  once  pagan  city  had  been  taken, 
all  idolaters  in  it  were  expelled,  every  heathen  house  was 
purified,  and  not  till  then  did  the  conquerors  take  posses- 
sion of  the  place  with  songs  of  rejoicing.  The  city  was  at 
once  repeopled  with  patriots  and  Chasidim.  At  Gezer  the 
observance  of  the  Law  was  so  rigorous  that  inscriptions 
were  set  up  on  the  roads  to  show  how  far  a  pious  Jew 
might  venture  to  walk  upon  a  Sabbath  day. 

At  last  the  accursed  Akra  fell.  For  more  than  thirty 
years  it  had  stood  hard  by  the  Temple  Mount,  overlooking 
and  menacing  the  Holy  City.  The  garrison  was  reduced 
to  extremity  for  want  of  provisions.  It  offered  to  capitu- 
late. Had  it  been  merely  a  Syrian  stronghold,  an  emblem 
of  Syrian  dominion,  the  garrison  might  have  been  with- 
drawn long  before  ;  but  it  was  the  refuge  of  men  especially 
hated  by  their  fellow-countrymen,  who  dreaded  the  fate 
that  might  be  in  store  for  them.  Nothing  worse  happened 
to  them,  however,  than  what  had  happened  to  an  idolatrous 
population  in  other  places.  They  were  all  turned  out,  and 
after  the  usual  ceremonies  of  purification,  a  joyful  and 
orthodox  population  took  possession  of  the  citadel. 

All  its  high  towers  were  thrown  down.  It  became  a 
Jewish  fortress,  in  which  Jewish  soldiers  had  their  barracks 
and  stored  their  arms.  Its  name,  Akra,  derived  from  the 
Greek  word  Acropolis,  was  laid  aside,  if  not  forgotten.  It 
resumed  its  Persian  name  of  Bira,  or  Baris,  which  meant 
simply  The  Fort. 

On  the  Temple  Mount,  now  strongly  fortified,  Simon 
built  himself  another  house,  in  which  he  might  reside  while 
in  the  city.  He  made  his  son  John  general-iii-chief,  and 
allowed  him  to  reside  at  Gezer. 

Simon,  though  strict  in  all  observance  of  the  law,  lived  in 
considerable  magnificence  and  luxury.  The  appointments 
1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v. 


SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS.  169 

of  his  table,  and  the  perfection  of  his  feasts  are  said  to  have 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  Greeks.  His  countrymen 
erected  a  column  in  his  honor  on  Mount  Zion,  on  which 
were  inscribed  in  Hebrew  characters  the  events  of  his 
long  life. 

Demetrius  II.,  having  settled  with  Jonathan  the  affairs  of 
Judea,  departed  on  a  madcap  expedition  against  the 
Persians.  He  left  his  brother  Antiochus  Sidetes  to  govern 
Jerusalem  during  his  absence ;  but  Demetrius  was  made 
prisoner  by  the  Persians,  and  it  was  ten  years  before  he 
returned. 

Antiochus  Sidetes  was  another  son  of  Demetrius  L,  who 
had  been  hidden  in  the  town  of  Side  in  Pamphylia.  As  soon 
as  he  found  himself  possessed  of  power  he  announced  that 
he  was  determined  to  rebuild  the  kingdom  of  his  fathers, 
and  to  drive  out  Tryphon,  the  contemptible  usurper  who 
had  dishonored  their  throne. 

By  his  valor  and  capacity  he  re-established  for  ten  years 
the  vigorous  rule  of  Seleucus  Nicanor  at  Antioch,  and  when 
the  strength  of  his  moribund  kingdom  revived,  the  idea  of 
restoring  Syrian  supremacy  in  Palestine  revived  also. 

Antiochus  Sidetes,  when  he  began  his  reign,  prudently 
made  friends  with  Simon,  and  accepted  his  assistance  in 
putting  down  Tryphon ;  but  when  he  found  himself  firmly 
seated  on  his  throne  he  quarrelled  with  his  ally,  and  sent 
to  him  an  envoy  named  Athenobius,  a  councillor,  with  a 
message,  charging  him  with  usurpations,  with  having  cap- 
tured the  Syrian  citadel  at  Jerusalem,  and  Joppa  and 
Gezer,  for  which  he  paid  no  compensation,  and  with 
having  despoiled  and  maltreated  Syrian  subjects.  He  was 
enjoined  to  give  up  the  places  he  had  taken,  to  pay  the 
arrears  of  tribute  due  by  them  to  Syria,  and  to  repair  all 
the  damage  he  or  his  troops  had  done  to  Syrians.  In 
default  of  this  it  was  demanded  that  he  should  pay  im- 
mediately to  Antiochus  a  thousand  talents. 

Simon  defended  himself  as  best  he  could.  Israel,  he 
said,  had  only  taken  back  its  own.  Joppa  and  Gezer  were 
cities  that  had  ravaged  Judea,  and  the  Jews  had  made  re- 


I/O  JUDEA. 

prisals.     He  would  consent  to  pay   at  most  one   hundred 
talents. 

Athenobius  greatly  incensed  the  king  by  reporting  this 
answer,  and  describing  in  connection  with  it  what  he  had 
seen  of  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  Simon.1 

Antiochus  upon  this,  resolved  on  war,  and  sent  a  large  army 
into  Judea  commanded  by  Cendebseus,  a  native  of  Hyr- 
cania,  who  at  once  began  to  ravage  the  country.  He  quar- 
tered his  army  in  an  intrenched  camp  near  Modin, 
believing  himself  protected  by  a  mountain  torrent  then 
swollen  into  a  broad  and  rapid  stream.  Simon  had  in- 
trusted his  army  to  his  son  John,  who  now  proved  himself 
worthy  of  his  heroic  lineage.  He  collected  an  army,  in 
which,  for  the  first  time,  there  was  seen  a  small  force  of 
Jewish  cavalry.  He  crossed  the  torrent,  defeated  Cende- 
bseus, burnt  his  tents,  and  plundered  his  baggage.  After 
this  victory  he  received  the  surname  of  Hyrcanus,  having 
defeated  the  Hyrcanian. 

It  was  a  splendid  victory,  but  difficulties  with  Antiochus 
were  only  postponed.  Simon  died  almost  at  the  moment 
of  his  son's  triumph,  and  his  death  was  a  shameful  domes- 
tic tragedy.  His  son-in-law  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Haboub 
(from  his  name  he  was  probably  of  Arabian  descent),  was 
a  wretch  whom  he  had  made  governor  of  Jericho.  It  is 
believed  that  this  man  entered  into  some  compact  or 
alliance  with  Antiochus,  or  Cendebaeus ;  at  any  rate,  he  re- 
solved on  killing  the  old  high-priest  and  his  sons,  and  on 
assuming  their  authority. 

His  crime  was  like  that  by  which  Agamemnon  perished, 
as  we  are  told  in  the  Odyssey.  Simon,  notwithstanding  his 
advanced  age,  paid  yearly  visits  of  inspection  to  his  numer- 
ous cities.  He  went  to  Jericho  in  February,  135  B.C.,  ac- 
companied by  his  two  youngest  sons,  Judas  and  Mattathiah. 
Ptolemy,  instead  of  entertaining  them  in  the  city,  met  them 
at  a  little  fortress  called  Dok,  where  he  commonly  resided. 
There  he  made  them  a  great  feast,  in  the  height  of  which 
he  and  his  soldiers  fell  upon  their  guests,  and  slew  all  of 
1  I  Cf.  Renan,  vol.  v. 


SIMON"  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS.  I/ 1 

them.  Assassins  were  at  the  same  time  sent  to  Gezer  to 
murder  John  Hyrcanus,  and  a  party  was  despatched  to 
Jerusalem  that  fellow- conspirators  there  might  secure  the 
city.  But  a  man  who  had  escaped  made  such  speed  to 
carry  warning  to  John  Hyrcanus,  that  not  only  was  he  pre- 
pared to  arrest  and  execute  the  murderers  when  they 
arrived,  but  he  forestalled  the  messengers  Ptolemy  had 
despatched  to  Jerusalem.  They  found  the  gates  closed, 
and  the  city  on  the  alert. 

If  Ptolemy  had  been  in  league  with  Antiochus,  he  reaped 
no  fruit  from  his  treachery.  The  king  disclaimed  any  par- 
ticipation in  his  crime,  and  refused  him  countenance  or 
protection.  He  shut  himself  up  in  a  small  fort  near  Jericho, 
where  he  was  besieged  by  John  Hyrcanus ;  who,  however, 
did  not  take  the  place,  but  after  a  short  time,  drew  off  his 
army.  It  is  doubtful  whether  he  was  influenced  by  finding 
that  Antiochus  was  about  to  take  advantage  of  his  struggle 
with  Ptolemy,  to  invade  Judea,  or  whether  Ptolemy  induced 
him  to  retreat  by  placing  his  aged  mother  and  two  brothers 
on  the  walls  and  threatening  to  torture  them  in  the  sight 
of  the  Jewish  army,  if  the  siege  was  not  abandoned  at 
once.  It  is  said  that  the  brave  mother  exhorted  her  son 
John  to  disregard  her  sufferings,  which  for  her  country's 
sake  she  was  willing  to  endure.  John's  retreat  did  not 
save  the  lives  of  his  mother  and  his  brothers.  They 
were  murdered  by  Ptolemy,  who,  despairing  of  help  from 
Antiochus,  fled  to  Philadelphia  (known  in  old  times  as 
Rabbath  Ammon),  and  no  more  is  recorded  of  him  in 
history. 

John  Hyrcanus,  without  any  opposition,  succeeded  his 
father  as  high-priest  and  prince  in  Jerusalem.  From  that 
time  the  hereditary  succession  of  the  Asmonean  family  to 
the  dignity  and  power  of  high- priest  was  established  until 
35  B.C.,  when  it  was  set  aside  by  Herod. 

Antiochus  Sidetes  before  long  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem, 
which  made  a  vigorous  defense,  but  finally,  reduced  by 
famine,  was  forced  to  make  terms.  Something  like  good 
feeling  was  promoted  on  both  sides  by  the  generosity  of 


1 72  JUDEA. 

Antiochus,  who,  when  the  Jews  requested  a  few  days'  truce 
that  they  might  celebrate  their  Passover,  not  only  granted 
what  they  asked,  but  sent  them  animals  with  gilded  horns 
for  sacrifice.  When  peace  was  made,  he  asked  no  harder 
terms  than  he  had  done  before  the  war,  in  the  message  that 
he  sent  to  Simon  by  Athenobius,  except  that  Syrian  garri- 
sons were  to  be  replaced  in  all  Judean  strongholds,  while 
the  Jews  were  to  have  liberty  to  live  after  the  laws  of  their 
fathers.  John  offered  to  pay  five  hundred  talents  to  be  re- 
lieved from  the  necessity  of  admitting  foreign  soldiers  into 
garrison.  This  proposal  was  accepted.  He  paid  three 
hundred  talents  at  once,  and  two  hundred  he  is  said  to  have 
obtained  by  excavations  into  the  tomb  of  David.  Hostages 
were  given  to  Antiochus,  among  them  John's  own  son. 
The  walls  of  Jerusalem  were  again  thrown  down,  and  King 
Antiochus  retired,  after  having,  it  is  said,  made  sacrifices 
in  the  Temple  according  to  the  forms  of  Jewish  worship. 
At  any  rate  it  is  certain  that  he  and  John  Hyrcanus  re- 
mained fast  friends.  John  received  him  with  great  mag- 
nificence when  he  afterwards  revisited  Jerusalem,  and 
accompanied  him  with  a_body  of  Jewish  troops  when  he  set 
forth  on  a  great  expedition  against  the  Parthians,  who  ten 
years  before  had  taken  Demetrius  prisoner  and  held  him  in 
captivity  until,  on  the  approach  of  Antiochus,  his  brother, 
they  set  him  free,  thinking  he  might  make  a  diversion  in 
their  favor,  by  taking  arms  against  one  whom  he  must 
consider  a  usurper. 

Antiochus  Sidetes  died  in  battle,  and  Demetrius  II.  re- 
sumed his  crown.  He  was  never  popular,  however,  among 
his  subjects,  and  for  many  years  after  this  the  history  of 
the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Syrian  empire  is  an  entangle- 
ment of  changes,  crimes,  and  weakness,  small  successes  and 
overwhelming  defeats,  anarchy,  domestic  crimes  and  a  con- 
tinual succession  of  pretenders.  Occasionally  we  see  through 
the  confusion  the  iron  hand  of  Rome. 

Already  John  Hyrcanus  had  invoked  the  intervention  of 
that  mighty  power  to  induce  Antiochus  Sidetes  before  his 
Parthian  campaign  to  restore  him  Joppa  and  Gamara,  and 


SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS.  1 73 

Antiochus,  unwilling  to  enter  into  any  controversy  with  the 
Roman  State,  had  given  back  the  cities. 

Judea,  small  as  it  was  and  hedged  in  by  hostile  States  on 
every  side,  was  now  of  more  importance  in  the  world's  eyes 
than  it  had  been  since  the  days  of  Solomon ;  for,  after  the 
death  of  Antiochus  Sidetes  in  his  Parthian  campaign,  the 
situation  of  John  Hyrcanus  changed.  "  He  became,"  says 
M.  Renan,  "  a  free  man,  and  although  he  had  as  yet  no 
royal  title,  he  had  a  degree  of  liberty  of  action  that  no  Jew- 
ish ethnarch  had  ever  had  before  him.  Judea  had  at  last 
a  sovereign  who  could  act  for  Jewish  interests  alone." 
Nominally  she  might  still  be  the  vassal  of  Syria,  and  this 
nominal  vassalage  was  to  continue  until  the  rule  of  Rome 
should  begin.  "  Judea  was  too  small  to  escape  absorption 
by  one  of  the  great  powers  contending  for  the  dominion  of 
the  East,  but  the  mad  experiment  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
would  never  be  renewed." 

John  Hyrcanus  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  was  pos- 
sessed by  the  spirit  of  imperialism,  by  zeal  for  political  expan- 
sion, and  for  propagandism  by  conquest.  Judas,  Jonathan, 
and  Simon  had  been  patriots  acting  on  the  defensive,  John 
Hyrcanus  was  a  conqueror.  His  countrymen,  when  they 
ceased  to  fight  in  the  interest  of  their  religion,  laid  down 
their  arms,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  John  Hyrca- 
nus had  to  employ  mercenaries.  These  were  paid  partly 
from  money  poured  by  the  faithful  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
Temple,  and  partly,  it  was  believed,  from  secret  hoards  laid 
up  in  the  tomb  of  David. 

Judea  was  encircled  by  hostile  populations.  On  the 
north  were  the  Samaritans,  her  hereditary  foes.  On  the 
south  were  the  Idumeans,  or  Edomites,  expelled  from  their 
own  country  by  the  Nabathean  Arabs. 

John  Hyrcanus  first  attacked  the  Samaritans.  Impelled 
by  ardent  zeal,  he  took  Sichem  and  Mount  Gerizim,  and 
destroyed  their  Temple.  He  aspired  to  conquer  Itursea, 
the  country  lying  northeast  from  Palestine,  but  before  he 
did  so  he  attacked  the  Idumeans.  He  conquered  them  and 
compelled  the  whole  male  population  to  accept  circum- 


174  JUDEA. 

cision.  And  thus,  nominally,  the  descendants  of  Esau  and 
Jacob  became  at  last  united.  As  the  Idumeans  were 
thenceforward  accounted  to  be  Jews,  Herod  and  his  family, 
though  of  an  alien  race,  were  officially  numbered  among 
the  "  seed  of  Abraham."  Not  that  true  Jews  ever  recog- 
nized Herod,  or  any  other  Idumean,  as  being  more  than  a 
"half  Jew." 

John  Hyrcanus  in  the  course  of  his  quarrels  and  his 
conquests  was  opposed  at  one  time  by  Ptolemy  Lathyrus, 
King  of  Egypt,  who  (probably  under  Roman  influence) 
interfered  in  Syrian  affairs,  but  the  Queen  Mother  Cleopa- 
tra (not  the  Cleopatra  so  well  known  in  history)  was  partial 
to  the  Jews,  and  had  placed  two  Jewish  generals,  sons  of 
the  Onias  who  built  the  Temple  at  Leontopolis,  at  the 
head  of  her  army. 

A  revolt  broke  out  in  Samaria  which  caused  John 
Hyrcanus  to  invade  it  a  second  time.  A  little  more  than 
one  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ  the  city 
of  Samaria  was  taken,  after  a  year's  siege,  and  utterly 
destroyed. 

But  the  wars  and  successes  of  John  Hyrcanus  concern  us 
far  less  than  the  rise  of  parties  in  the  Jewish  Church,  which 
took  place  at  this  period.  The  experiment,  afterwards 
repeated  in  Scotland  under  the  Covenanters,  and  in  New 
England  under  the  Puritans,  of  making  the  Law  of  Moses 
supreme  in  civil  and  domestic  life,  was  tried  in  Palestine, 
and  as  interpreted  by  tradition  its  yoke  must  have  been  in- 
tolerable. Pharisees,  Sadducees,  and  Essenes  divided  the 
nation.  In  the  end  the  quarrel  between  the  first  two  did 
much  to  eat  out  the  heart  of  true  piety  in  the  Jewish  na- 
tion. Religious  feeling  was  frittered  away  in  zealous  adher- 
ence to  observances ;  the  spirit  of  the  nation  ceased  to  be 
that  of  the  men  who  so  fervently  poured  out  their  hearts  in 
prophecy  or  in  sacred  song. 

Up  to  this  time  the  Jewish  Church  had  been  divided 
between  the  Chasidim  and  the  Hellenists.  One  of  these 
parties  had  been  now  extinguished.  Men  might  be  Phil- 
hellenes,  admirers  of  Greek  philosophy,  learning,  or  institu- 


SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS  175 

tions,  but  no  Jew  dared  to  style  himself  a  Hellenist,  or  to 
abandon  the  God  of  his  fathers  for  the  worship  of  idols. 

From  the  "History  of  the  Jews"  by  Professor  H.  Graetz, 
a  book  written  mainly  for  Jewish  readers,  I  will  make  some 
large  quotations  and  abridge  his  account  of  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees  at  this  period.  I  do  so  at  some  length  be- 
cause the  subject  is  of  importance,  and  the  information 
afforded  us  is,  so  to  speak,  at  first  hand. 

Professor  Graetz,  after  speaking  of  the  Assideans  (Chas- 
idim)  and  the  Essenes,  says :  "  There  arose  a  division 
among  the  pious,  and  a  national  party  separated  itself  from 
the  Essenes,  which  did  not  avoid  public  life,  but  took  an 
active  part  in  public  affairs.  The  members  of  this  numer- 
ous sect  began  at  this  time  to  bear  the  name  of  Pharisees. 
But  this  sect,  the  very  soul  and  centre,  as  it  were,  of  the 
nation,  having  above  all  things  at  heart  the  preservation  of 
Judaism  in  the  exact  form  in  which  it  had  been  handed 
down  to  men,  insisted  upon  all  political  undertakings,  all 
public  transactions,  every  national  act,  being  tried  by  the 
standard  of  religion.  To  these  demands,  however,  those 
who  stood  at  the  head  of  military  or  diplomatic  affairs  .  .  . 
would  not,  or  could  not  reconcile  themselves.  Thus  a  third 
party  was  formed  —  that  of  the  Sadducees.  At  what  pre- 
cise period  opposition  between  these  parties  began  to  show 
itself  is  uncertain.  .  .  .  According  to  one  account  the  ad- 
verse parties  first  appeared  in  the  days  of  Jonathan.  .  .  . 
The  mass  of  the  nation  was  inclined  to  Phariseeism,  and  it 
was  only  in  the  national  leaders  that  its  peculiarities  became 
marked.  The  Pharisees  derived  their  name  from  the  fact 
of  their  explaining  the  Scriptures  in  a  peculiar  manner,  and 
of  deriving  new  laws  from  this  new  interpretation.  .  .  . 
The  individual  and  the  State  were  to  be  ruled  alike  by  the 
laws  and  customs  of  their  fathers.  Every  deviation  from 
this  principle  appeared  to  the  Pharisees  as  treason  to  all 
that  was  most  precious  and  holy.  .  .  .  The  third  dogma 
of  the  Pharisees  (the  second  being  their  belief  in  immor- 
tality and  the  resurrection)  was  concerning  the  importance 
and  all-embracing  influence  of  religious  injunctions.  In  a 


176  JUDEA. 

nation  whose  breath  of  life  was  religion,  many  customs, 
whose  origin  was  lost  in  the  dim  twilight  of  the  past,  had 
taken  their  place  by  the  side  of  the  written  Law.  If  these 
ordinances  were  not  found  in  the  books  of  the  written  Law, 
they  were  ascribed  to  the  great  teachers  of  the  age  of  Ezra. 
All  these  unwritten  customs  gained  an  extraordinary  degree 
of  importance  from  the  dangers  that  Judaism  had  encoun- 
tered, and  the  victories  that  it  had  achieved.  The  people 
had  risked  in  behalf  of  these  very  customs  their  property 
and  their  lives.  .  .  .  This  devotion  to  outward  forms  and 
ceremonies  by  no  means  excluded  the  religion  of  the  heart. 
The  Pharisees  in  those  days  were  acknowledged  to  be 
moral,  chaste,  temperate,  and  benevolent.  .  .  .  Even  their 
rivals,  the  Sadducees,  could  not  but  bear  witness  to  the  fact 
that  '  they  denied  themselves  in  this  life,  but  would  hardly 
receive  a  reward  in  a  future  world.' 

"  The  party  of  the  Sadducees,  so  sharply  opposed  to 
the  Pharisees,  pursued  a  national  political  policy.  It  was 
composed  of  the  Judean  aristocracy,  the  brave  soldiers, 
the  generals,  and  the  statesmen  who  had  acquired  wealth 
and  authority  at  home,  or  who  had  returned  from  foreign 
embassies,  all  having  gained,  from  closer  intercourse  with 
the  outer  world  and  other  lands,  freer  thought,  and  more 
worldly  views.  They  formed  the  kernel  of  the  Asmon- 
ean  following,  which  in  peace  or  war  faithfully  served  its 
leaders.  This  sect  also  doubtless  included  some  Hel- 
lenists who,  shrinking  from  the  desertion  of  their  faith,  had 
returned  to  Judaism.  .  .  .  The  national  interests  of  the 
Judean  community  were  placed  by  the  Sadducees  above 
the  Law.  Burning  patriotism  was  their  ruling  sentiment, 
and  piety  occupied  but  the  second  place  in  their  hearts. 
.  .  .  Oppressed  by  the  abundance  of  the  religious  ordi- 
nances, they  would  not  admit  their  general  applicability,  or 
the  obligation  of  keeping  them.  .  .  .  They  laid  down  the 
following  rule  :  That  only  the  ordinances  which  appeared 
clearly  expressed  in  the  Pentateuch  were  binding.  Those 
which  rested  upon  oral  tradition,  or  had  sprung  up  at  various 
times  had  a  subordinate  value,  and  could  not  claim  to  be 


SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYKCANUS  177 

inviolable.  Still,  they  could  not  help  occasionally  recog- 
nizing the  value  of  traditional  interpretations. 

"  In  their  interpretation  of  the  judicial  and  penal  laws,  as 
well  as  of  the  rules  of  ritual,  the  Sadducees  were  much  more 
severe  than  the  Pharisees.  The  law  about  '  an  eye  for  an 
eye,'  etc.,  they  insisted  should  be  literally  carried  out. 
The  Pharisees  required  only  pecuniary  compensation.  The 
two  sects  disagreed  about  many  points  of  ritual,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  date  of  the  Feast  of  Weeks,  the  ceremonies  to 
be  used  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  manner  of  kin- 
dling incense  on  the  Great  Day  of  Atonement,  etc.,  etc. 

"  But  in  spite  of  the  relief  which  their  less  stringent  views 
gave  the  people,  burdened  every  hour  of  the  day  with 
religious  observances,  the  Sadducees  were  not  popular. 
The  feeling  of  the  time  was  against  laxity  and  in  favor  of 
strict  religious  observance.  .  .  .  They  never  gained  the 
heart  of  the  public,  and  it  was  only  by  force  and  authority 
that  they  were  able  to  make  their  principles  prevail.  At 
this  period  religious  sentiment  in  the  Jewish  nation  was  so 
active  that  it  gave  birth  to  a  religious  order  which  far 
surpassed  even  the  Pharisees  in  strictness  and  painful 
scrupulousness."  l 

This  was  the  order  of  the  Essenes,  of  which  I  must  be 
permitted  to  say  a  few  words. 

"The  Essene,"  says  M.  Renan,  "was  a  monk  who  had 
his  rules  and  his  superiors,  his  novitiate,  his  monastery,  and 
his  vows.  All  men  of  the  community  called  each  other 
brethren.  They  at  first  admitted  men  only,  and  dis- 
couraged marriage,  but  they  sometimes  brought  up  children 
in  habits  that  would  dispose  them  to  join  their  rule.  The 
only  penalty  inflicted  for  violating  the  discipline  of  the 
order  was  expulsion,  but  it  was  remarked  that  expulsion 
was  almost  always  followed  speedily  by  sudden  death. 
Their  dress  was  in  form  like  that  of  other  people,  but  it 
was  entirely  white. 

"  All  goods  were  in  common  ;  those  who  united  themselves 

i  See  "  The  History  of  the  Jews,"  by  Professor  H.  Graetz,  vol. 
ii.  chapter  i.,  pp.  17-25. 

12 


178  JUDEA. 

with  the  Order  gave  it  all  their  property.  Their  common 
interests  were  confided  to  managers  of  well  known  thrift. 
The  order  prescribed  for  the  daily  life  of  the  brethren  was 
carefully  laid  down,  and  in  all  respects  resembled  the  rules 
enforced  in  a  monastery. 

"  At  sunrise  they  had  prayer ;  then  the  brethren  were  set 
to  various  tasks  by  their  superiors;  after  that  they  came 
together  for  ablutions  ;  then  came  the  mid-day  meal ;  then 
more  hours  of  labor ;  and  then  supper. 

"  Their  most  anxious  care  was  for  cleanliness  and  decency. 
These  matters  were  indeed  carried  to  what  seems,  even  to 
us,  a  puerile  extreme.  To  expose  the  person  to  the  light 
was  considered  to  insult  the  eye  of  God ;  and  minute  pre- 
cautions were  taken  when  they  performed  their  ablutions, 
—  which  in  some  cases  was  many  times  a  day. 

"  Though  marriage  was  at  first  prohibited,  after  a  while 
a  few  women  were  admitted  to  the  Order,  under  severe 
restrictions. 

"  The  Essenes  never  severed  their  connection  with  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem  ;  but,  rejecting  bloody  sacrifices,  they 
sent  only  other  offerings.  They  were  in  consequence  ex- 
cluded from  the  more  sacred  courts  of  the  Temple,  but  the 
holiness  of  their  lives  protected  them  from  any  other  per- 
secution. It  was  popularly  said  of  them  that  '  they  were 
the  best  of  men.' 

"  Their  food  in  the  monastery  was  prepared  according  to 
strict  rules  of  cleanliness.  At  meal  time  after  the  bath  of 
purification,  they  met  together  in  a  hall  where  no  profane 
person,  except  by  rare  and  especial  permission,  could  be 
received.  Before  entering  this  hall  each  man  cast  about 
him  a  mantle  of  white  linen.  Silently  and  reverently  they 
arranged  themselves  along  the  table.  Before  each  man 
stood  a  loaf,  and  a  bowl  containing  his  food  for  the  day. 
The  priest  prayed  before  they  ate,  and  no  man  might  taste 
anything  before  the  prayer.  After  the  repast  the  priest 
prayed  again.  At  the  beginning  and  at  the  end,  the 
brothers  each  returned  thanks  to  God  who  giveth  food  to 
man.  When  this  was  over  they  laid  aside  their  linen 


SIMON  AND  JOHN  HYRCANUS  179 

mantles,  and  returned  to  their  work  until  the  evening. 
This  rite,  far  more  than  any  other,  impressed  those  who 
sought  acquaintance  with  the  habits  of  the  Essenes,  among 
whom  we  may  number  the  Jewish  writers  Philo  and 
Josephus.  Any  stranger  permitted  to  be  present  was  struck 
with  awe  and  respect.  Their  hall  seemed  a  real  temple ; 
the  meal  a  religious  service ;  no  clamor  or  noise  was  heard. 
The  brethren,  if  compelled  to  speak,  did  so  gravely  in 
whispers. 

"They  did  not  all  live  in  the  monastery.  Some  resided 
in  Jerusalem,  where  there  was  even  a  gate  called  by  their 
name.  They  were  bound  to  exercise  hospitality  in  all 
places,  and  on  all  occasions,  to  their  brethren. 

"  Besides  the  Bible,  which  was  read  and  commented  upon 
every  day,  they  possessed  books  of  their  own,  in  which  the 
names  of  the  angels  played  a  conspicuous  part."  l 

They  interpreted  dreams,  and  were  accredited  with 
second  sight,  and  the  power  to  make  predictions.  M. 
Renan  thinks  that  the  Book  of  Enoch,  so  full  of  angelology, 
may  have  been  one  of  the  volumes  held  so  precious  that 
each  Essene  on  his  initiation  swore  to  preserve  them  with  as 
much  care  and  secrecy  as  he  did  the  names  of  the  angels. 

What  we  know  of  the  Essenes  comes  from  Philo,  an 
Alexandrian  Jew,  and  from  Josephus.  Neither  of  these 
writers  makes  any  mention  of  a  Messianic  hope  being 
cherished  by  the  Essenes,  but  this  may  be  accounted  for 
by  the  scorn  and  dislike  with  which  Greeks  and  Romans 
would  have  received  the  idea  that  out  of  obscure  Judea 
was  to  come  forth  the  prince  who  should  found  a  kingdom 
which  would  supersede  their  own  divinities  and  spread  over 
the  world.  Both  writers  aimed  to  present  the  Essenes  to 
non-Jewish  eyes  in  the  most  favorable  light,  so  they  sup- 
pressed whatever  might  have  seemed  to  a  Greek  or  a 
Roman  unintelligible  or  ridiculous. 

The  Asmonean  princes  were  originally  Pharisees,  and 
owed  their  elevation  to  their  piety  and  their  ardent  zeal 

1  See  Renan's  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,'  vol.  v.,  chapter 
vi.,  pp.  49-56. 


180  JUDEA. 

for  Judaism ;  but  as  time  went  on,  the  attractions  of  "  good 
society,"  liberal  education,  and  the  fashion  of  the  day, 
attached  them  to  the  Sadducees. 

Besides  subtle  attractions,  an  incident  occurred  which 
threw  John  Hyrcanus  out  of  the  party  of  the  Pharisees  and 
into  that  of  their  rivals.  His  luxury  and  proud  bearing 
were  resented  by  his  old  companions.  His  people  liked 
him  no  longer.  Many  thought  he  ought  to  separate  spirit- 
ual from  temporal  power.  They  were  well  disposed  to 
him  as  a  military  chief,  but  they  did  not  find  him  noble 
enough  for  the  high-priesthood.  He  was  not  of  the  family 
of  Zadok,  and  many  considered  that  his  assumption  of  the 
high-priesthood  was  illegal. 

At  a  magnificent  repast  given  by  him  to  the  leading 
Pharisees,  when  he  asked  if  he  had  ever  done  anything 
contrary  to  the  law,  a  man  named  Eleazar  started  up,  and 
told  him  to  his  face  that  it  was  reported  and  believed  by 
many,  that  his  mother  had  once  been  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  Syrians,  and  therefore,  as  the  son  of  a  slave- 
woman,  he  was  not  legally  entitled  to  hold  his  high  posi- 
tion. All  the  guests  were  indignant  at  Eleazar  for  this 
audacious  impertinence,  but  when  John  Hyrcanus  wished 
to  have  him  put  to  death,  they  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
approve  the  punishment.  John  Hyrcanus  resented  this. 
The  story  that  his  mother  had  been  once  made  captive  at 
Modin  was  proved  to  have  no  foundation,  but  the  Sad- 
ducees, delighted  at  the  quarrel,  declared  that  Eleazar  had 
only  said  what  all  men  in  his  party  in  their  hearts  believed. 

This  led  John  Hyrcanus  to  join  the  Sadducees.  Forthwith 
he  opposed  the  strict  discipline  which  the  Pharisees  were 
endeavoring  to  impose  as  a  proper  sequel  to  the  Law.  This 
made  him  still  more  unpopular,  as  the  people  sided  with 
the  Pharisees.  His  sons  adhered  to  the  same  party  as 
their  father,  and  were  never  national  favorites.  The  court 
came  to  be  considered  a  place  profane,  where  things  for- 
bidden elsewhere  were  allowed. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   JEWISH   SIBYL.1 

"\  "X  7E  see  from  the  account  of  the  Essenes  in  the  last 
*  *  chapter,  that  some  Jews,  even  in  the  days  when 
ceremonial  observances  were  rigidly  enforced  by  law, 
sought  to  substitute  offerings,  hymns  of  praise,  and  purity 
of  heart  and  person  for  sacrifices.  The  spirit  of  Essenism 
was  not  unlike  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  when  in  after 
years,  a  disciple  of  Jesus  met  with  an  Essene,  they  may 
surely  have  recognized  a  bond  of  brotherhood. 

Nevertheless,  not  one  word  in  all  the  Christian  literature 
of  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  our  era  makes  any 
mention  of  the  Essenes.  Direct  communication  between 
Christianity  and  Essenism  is  more  than  doubtful,  but  their 
resemblance  in  many  points  is  great. 

Pliny,  who  had  some  knowledge  of  this  Jewish  sect  as  an 
object  of  curiosity,  passed  judgment  on  it  with  the  practical 
common-sense  of  a  man  of  the  world.  He  said  it  was  a 
society  that  could  not  hold  together  for  any  length  of 
time.  "  It  had  formed  a  little  short-lived  Paradise  for 
itself."  But  he  added  that  nothing  could  be  said  against  it, 
except  that  respect  for  the  human  body  was  carried  to  a 
degree  of  puerility.  And,  he  concluded,  it  was  probable 
that  its  members  in  their  community  led  very  happy  lives. 

The  number  of  the  Essenes  was  reckoned  at  about  four 
thousand.  In  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era  they 
lived  chiefly  in  the  neighborhood  of  Engaddi,  on  the 
borders  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Pliny  considered  them  religious 

1  For  the  substance  and  even  largely  for  the  words  of  this  chapter 
I  am  indebted  to  my  own  translation  of  vol.  v.,  chapters  vi.  and  ix. 
of  M.  Kenan's  "  Histoire  du  Peuple  d'Israel." 


1 82  JUDEA. 

lunatics ;  Dio  Chrysostom  spoke  of  them  as  Utopian  theo- 
rists ;  Philo  and  Josephus  were  proud  of  them,  as  fellow- 
countrymen  who  had  realized  on  earth  a  life  of  perfection. 
In  the  days  of  persecution  during  the  Roman  Empire, 
some  of  the  Essenes  were  confounded  with  the  Christians, 
and  endured  martyrdom  with  admirable  courage ;  and  some 
traces  of  the  sect  could  be  found  as  late  as  the  third 
century. 

We  turn  now  to  Egypt,  where  the  tolerance  of  the  Ptole- 
mies spared  the  Jews  the  terrible  experiences  that  their  breth- 
ren in  Palestine  passed  through  triumphantly  in  the  days  of 
Antiochus  Epiphanes.  The  Jews  in  Egypt  during  that  time 
were  on  good  terms  with  the  government,  and  often  filled 
important  posts,  especially  in  the  army.  But,  although 
they  had  their  own  Temple  at  Leontopolis,  they  continued 
to  send  offerings  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  go  thither  on  pilgrim- 
age. The  Jews  in  Palestine  and  the  Jews  in  Egypt  never 
ceased  to  keep  up  friendly  relations.  Yearly  the  Jews  of 
Jerusalem  invited  their  brethren  in  Egypt  to  come  and 
celebrate  with  them  the  Feast  of  the  Purification  of  the 
Temple ;  a  blank  form  for  this  invitation  was  kept,  and  the 
date  inserted  from  year  to  year. 

Trade,  morals,  religion,  and  literature  united  the  Jews  of 
Egypt  and  Palestine.  Books  that  came  forth  in  Judea 
were  promptly  translated  into  Greek  for  the  use  of  the 
Jews  in  Alexandria.  Sometimes  Greek  writers  made  addi- 
tions to  Hebrew  books,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Book  of 
Esther,  to  which  a  large  supplement  may  be  found  in  the 
edition  inserted  in  the  Apocrypha.  The  Second  Book  of 
Maccabees  seems  to  have  been  written  by  a  Jew  in  Egypt. 
We  have,  indeed,  no  Hebrew  text  of  some  of  the  Hagada 
(or  stories  with  a  purpose)  included  in  the  Apocrypha,  as, 
for  instance,  "  Susanna  and  the  Elders,"  or  "  Bel  and  the 
Dragon."  Another  decidedly  apocryphal  work  was  called 
the  Third  Book  of  the  Maccabees.  It  does  not  accord 
with  known  history.  It  was  never  included  by  the  Latin 
Church  among  the  canonical  Scriptures,  but  it  found  its 
place  in  the  Greek  canon. 


THE  JE  WISH  SIB  YL.  183 

The  Hagada,  or  parabolic  narrative,  was  a  style  of  com- 
position much  esteemed  amongst  the  Jews.  The  teaching 
of  Jesus  when  He  addressed  the  multitude  was  almost 
always  uttered  in  the  form  of  parables.  Some  modern 
critics  think  that  one  at  least  of  our  canonical  books,  —  the 
story  of  Jonah,  —  is  as  much  a  parable  as  the  story  of  the 
Prodigal  Son. 

Although  by  Greek  rulers  in  Egypt  the  Jews  were  trusted 
as  valuable  subordinates,  they  were  never  popular  among 
the  inhabitants  of  Alexandria.  Many  pamphlets  were 
written  against  them.  One  by  Apion  was,  in  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era,  forcibly  refuted  by  both  Philo 
and  Josephus. 

It  seems  to  me  that  my  readers  might  here  find  inter- 
esting some  account  of  the  Sibylline  Books,  —  Jewish  books, 
the  first  of  which  was  written  at  this  period,  —  not  the  early 
Sibylline  Books,  whose  story,  in  connection  with  Roman 
history,  is  universally  known. 

There  appeared  in  Alexandria,  about  the  time  of  which 
we  write,  a  Jewish  poem  in  whose  ideas  the  influence  of  the 
Palestinian  taste  for  Apocalypse  was  deeply  marked,  while 
the  form  was  entirely  original.  Its  author  feigned  that  the 
Sibyl,  the  perpetual  prophetess  of  the  Gentile  world,  had 
dictated  her  prophecies  to  him.  There  circulated  already 
short  poems  supposed  to  contain  the  predictions  of  the 
Cumsean  and  Erythraean  Sibyls.  The  Jewish  imitator 
adopted  the  same  style  and  the  same  rhythm,  and,  the 
better  to  deceive  the  credulous,  scattered  through  his  text 
some  of  those  predictions  popularly  believed  to  have  come 
down  from  prophetesses  in  remote  antiquity. 

It  was  about  the  year  140  B.  c.  that  the  most  ancient 
and  important  of  these  singular  productions  made  its  ap- 
pearance in  Alexandria.  The  Erythraean  Sibyl  was  the 
prophetess  chosen  by  the  Jewish  author  to  address  to  the 
world  his  warnings  and  reproaches.  The  plan  of  the  book 
was  a  sort  of  universal  history,  the  nation  of  the  Jews  being 
its  centre.  It  was  a  singular  mixture  of  the  Bible  and  Greek 
fable.  The  Titans  and  the  sons  of  Kronos  (or  Saturn)  are 


1 84  JUDEA, 

mixed  up  with  stories  of  the  building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel. 
Bitterly  does  the  Sibyl  speak  of  the  empire  of  the  Romans, 
then  extending  itself  over  the  known  world.  She  represents 
its  power  as  terrible,  destructive,  rapacious,  and  oppressive. 
Of  all  empires  it  is  the  harshest,  the  most  iniquitous,  and 
the  most  impious.  Its  luxury,  its  abominable  modes  of  life, 
the  seeds  of  vice  it  scattered  in  its  train,  and  its  haunts  of 
profligacy  were  calculated,  she  thinks,  to  debauch  the  whole 
world  and  especially  to  influence  the  young.  "  But  the 
people  of  God  will  reign  at  last ;  "  she  cries,  "  they  will 
guide  all  mortals  on  the  path  to  life.  The  judgments  of 
God  will  fall  upon  the  Gentile  world  with  blood  and  ruin." 

The  ideas  of  the  Jewish  Sibyl  were  pure  and  elevated. 
She  apostrophized  Greece  as  a  sister  who  had  gone  astray. 
She  tells  her  that  all  her  woes  have  come  to  her  through 
idolatry,  the  fatal  invention  of  wicked  kings  in  the  old 
days. 

"  Oh  !  Greece  !  "  she  cries,  "  why  hast  thou  put  thy 
trust  in  men,  in  mortal  princes  who  could  not  themselves 
escape  the  doom  of  death  ? l  Why  dost  thou  make  vain 
offerings  to  the  dead?  Why  sacrifice  to  idols?  Who  has 
put  error  into  thy  mind?  Who  has  led  thee  to  attempt 
to  hide  thyself  from  the  face  of  the  great  God  ?  Ah  ! 
rather  revere  the  name  of  the  Father  of  all  things ;  let  His 
name  be  not  unknown  to  thee  !  Proud  kings  reigned  over 
the  Greeks  for  fifteen  hundred  years,  and  they  introduced 
evils  amongst  men,  corrupting  them  by  the  worship  of  many 
idols  of  gods  who  have  suffered  death,  and  they  have  rilled 
your  fancies  with  vain  things.  But  when  the  anger  of  God 
shall  be  heavy  upon  you,  then  will  ye  recognize  the  face  of 
the  Great  God.  All  human  beings,  with  groanings,  lifting 
their  hands  to  the  vast  heavens,  will  begin  to  invoke  the 
Great  God,  to  pray  for  His  protection,  and  to  seek  how 
they  may  be  delivered  from  His  anger." 

1  The  poet  believes  the  gods  of  Greece  are  deified  heroes  or 
ancient  kings.  This  account  is  abridged  from  the  ninth  chapter  of 
vol.  v.  of  Kenan's  "  History  of  the  People  of  Israel  "  :  "On  the  Jew- 
ish Sibyl." 


THE  JEWISH  SIBYL.  185 

Judaism,  thinks  the  prophetess,  is  the  lamp  which  will 
preserve  the  light  of  truth  in  the  world.  The  Sibyl  de- 
scribes the  servants  of  the  Great  God,  as  pious  men  dwell- 
ing peaceably  in  Judea  and  worshipping  in  the  Temple. 

"  Living  in  righteousness  and  in  the  observance  of  the 
law  of  the  Most  High,  they  will  live  perfectly  happy  in  their 
towns  and  wealthy  villages.  Exalted  by  Him  who  is  Im- 
mortal, they  will  become  prophets  of  the  human  race. 
They  will  bring  to  it  great  joy.  To  them  alone  has  the 
Great  God  given  wisdom,  faith,  and  good  thoughts  in  their 
hearts.  Preserved  from  vain  errors,  they  no  longer  revere 
images  of  the  gods,  the  work  of  men's  hands,  fashioned 
in  gold,  in  bronze,  in  ivory,  in  wood,  in  stone,  in  clay, 
works  painted  in  scarlet,  representing  animals,  and  all  else 
that  mortals,  led  astray  in  their  madness,  now  worship  and 
adore.  But  they  will  raise  to  heaven  their  pure  hands, 
which  in  the  morning,  rising  from  their  beds,  they  will 
purify  with  water ;  they  will  honor  God  always,  the 
Mighty  and  Immortal,  and  after  Him  their  parents; 
besides  which,  more  than  all  other  men,  they  will  ever 
remember  the  sanctity  of  the  nuptial  bed." 

The  poet  who  speaks  as  the  Sibyl,  thinks  the  end  of  the 
world  is  at  hand.  "  Of  that  day  and  of  that  hour  knoweth 
no  man."  Even  St.  Paul  expected  that  the  kingdom  of 
his  Lord  on  earth  would  soon  be  triumphantly  established. 

"  Then,"  cries  the  Sibyl,  "  wars  shall  end.  Then  all  the 
isles  and  all  the  cities  shall  say :  '  How  dear  are  men  to 
the  Immortal  ! '  .  .  .  And  out  of  their  mouths  shall  come 
sweet  songs  :  '  Come  and  let  us  fall  prostrate  on  the  earth, 
and  pray  to  the  King  Immortal  —  God,  the  Great,  and  the 
Most  High.'  " 

Then  shall  the  faithful  encourage  each  other,  saying : 
"  For  seven  years  let  us  go  to  and  fro  upon  the  earth, 
gathering  up  all  murderous  weapons,  bucklers,  javelins, 
helmets,  arrows,  —  all  things  that  slay  men.  Let  us  make 
of  them  great  bonfires.  For  seven  years  no  oak  wood  need 
be  cut  in  the  forests  to  keep  up  the  flame." 

The  judgment  of  God  will  be  preceded  by  terrible  woes, 


1 86  JUDEA, 

but  there  will  come  at  length  an  age  of  perfect  happiness. 
"  Then  there  will  arise  a  kingdom  which  will  last  forever, 
and  extend  over  all  nations  upon  earth.  .  .  .  All  the  roads 
that  cross  the  plains,  all  the  steep  rocks,  all  the  high  moun- 
tains will  be  easy  to  cross  in  those  days.  Profound  peace 
and  happiness  will  reign  upon  the  earth.  .  .  .  Then  shall 
there  be  riches  among  men  not  acquired  by  injustice." 

The  subject  is  continued  by  the  Sibyl  almost  in  the  very 
words  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  :  "  Rejoice  O  Virgin  !  — 
tremble  with  happiness.  He  who  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  assures  thee  of  eternal  felicity.  He  will  dwell 
with  thee ;  to  thee  will  belong  immortal  light.  Wolves  will 
eat  grass  with  the  lambs  upon  the  mountains ;  leopards 
and  kids  will  graze  together ;  the  wandering  bear  will  lie 
down  with  the  heifer.  Lions,  which  now  eat  flesh,  shall  eat 
straw  in  the  manger  like  the  ox,  and  little  children  in 
chains  shall  lead  them.  Wild  beasts  shall  walk  over  the 
land,  and  shall  do  no  harm.  Dragons  shall  sleep  with 
children,  and  not  hurt  them,  for  the  hand  of  God  shall  be 
over  them." 

These  days  will  be  preceded  by  signs  and  wonders  in  the 
heavens  :  such  as  men  saw  (or  believed  themselves  to  have 
seen)  during  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  ;  such  as  have  been 
recorded  by  Roman  writers  as  having  preceded  the  death 
of  Cassar. 

"  And,"  adds  the  prophetess,  "  when  all  this  shall  have 
come  to  pass,  you  will  remember  me ;  and  no  one  any 
longer  will  say  I  have  been  mad.  They  will  call  me  the 
Great  Prophetess  of  God." 

But  the  crowning  argument  for  Judaism  was  the  Jewish  life. 
Happy,  honest,  and  cheerful,  readily  accepting  even  a  posi- 
tion of  inferiority,  the  Jews  of  Alexandria  seemed  to  those 
about  them  men  of  wisdom,  —  philosophers  of  a  practical, 
every-day  kind.  They  avoided  both  the  immorality  of  the 
Greeks  and  the  meanness  of  the  Egyptians.  Their  lives 
were  pure,  their  aspect,  like  that  of  the  early  Christians, 
was  meek  and  unobtrusive.  Among  the  numerous  portraits 
discovered  in  late  years  of  men  who  lived  in  Egypt  under 


THE  JEWISH  SIBYL.  187 

Ptolemaic  or  Roman  rule,  it  would  be  easy  to  distinguish 
those  of  the  Jews  by  something  in  their  aspect  tender, 
amiable,  and  confiding. 

The  Sibylline  oracles  of  the  Alexandrine  Jews  did  not, 
however,  make  any  great  or  immediate  impression  upon 
the  heathen.  They  were  very  little  read  by  the  Hellenic 
population.  But  scattered  seed  can  always  find  a  corner  of 
the  earth  in  which  to  germinate.  A  hundred  years  later  the 
same  ideas  were  presented  to  Rome  in  an  exquisite  form  by 
Virgil,  in  his  Fourth  Eclogue.  Virgil  is  known  to  have 
studied  in  the  Library  of  Alexandria;  probably  he  there 
met  with  the  prophecy  of  the  Sibyl,  but  as  her  poet  had 
borrowed  almost  word  for  word  from  the  old  Jewish 
prophets,  the  early  Christians,  better  acquainted  with  the 
Old  Testament  than  with  the  Sibylline  Books,  called  Virgil 
the  Christian  poet,  and  believed  that  he  had  drawn  inspira- 
tion straight  from  their  Sacred  Writings. 

Nevertheless,  the  Sibyl  was  not  overlooked  by  the  faithful 
in  the  early  ages.  The  magnificent  Latin  hymn  Dies  ira, 
dies  ilia,  classes  her  with  David  as  a  sacred  poet, — 

"  Teste  David  cum  Sibylla." 

"And,"  adds  M.  Renan,  concluding  his  remarks  upon 
the  utterances  of  the  Sibyl,  "  her  verses  tell  the  truth. 
There  is  a  judgment  day  of  God,  and  an  absolute  standard 
of  right  and  wrong.  .  .  .  The  witness  that  we  look  for  in 
heaven  has  an  existence  outside  of  ourselves.  There  is  a 
future  for  humanity.  All  the  pictures  men  have  drawn  of 
it  are  childish,  and  yet  all  Utopias  —  all  scholastic  chimeras 
—  are  true  at  bottom ;  "  that  is,  they  have  a  foundation  of 
truth." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    LATER   ASMONEANS. 

A  S  the  union  of  the  offices  of  high-priest  and  sovereign 
•**•  had  proved  so  very  unpopular,  John  Hyrcanus  on  his 
deathbed  conceived  the  idea  of  leaving  his  temporal  sover- 
eignty to  a  female  regent,  and  the  dignity  of  high-priest  to 
his  eldest  son. 

It  had  been  all  along  understood  by  the  nation  that  the 
arrangement  by  which  one  man  held  both  offices  might  not 
be  permanent.  To  the  official  titles  of  the  earlier  Asmonean 
Princes  were  always  added  the  words  "until  a  true  Prophet 
shall  arise." 

More  than  one  queen  was  at  that  time  reigning  success- 
fully in  the  East,  but  the  idea  of  accepting  a  female 
sovereign  was  not  pleasing  to  the  Jews.  And  when  the 
young  Judas,  or  Aristobulus,  a  successful  warrior,  brilliant, 
and  popular,  at  the  head  of  a  large  army,  claimed  all  the 
dignities  of  his  late  father,  he  had  little  difficulty  in  getting 
both  temporal  and  spiritual  power  into  his  hands.  He  im- 
prisoned his  mother,  and  her  three  younger  sons ;  sparing 
only  his  brother  Antigonus,  whom  he  loved  as  his  comrade 
and  companion  in  arms. 

The  Pharisees  who  had  hoped  to  regain  power  under  the 
regency  of  a  female  sovereign,  were  furious  against  Aris- 
tobulus. They  imputed  to  him  every  crime.  They  even 
said  he  left  his  mother  to  die  of  starvation  in  prison.  Their 
enmity  has  left  his  character  very  obscure ;  for  the  Greeks, 
whose  favor  he  courted,  gave  him  high  praise  for  his  good 
government  and  moderation. 

Soon  after  his  accession  he  assumed  the  title  of  king, 
without,  however,  putting  it  on  his  coins,  which  bore  only 
the  inscription  "  Judas,  high-priest  and  chief  of  the  Senate 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  189 

of  the  Jews."  He  associated  with  himself  in  his  sovereignty 
his  brother  Antigonus,  and  they  went  forth  together  on 
another  northern  campaign.  But  exposure,  fatigue,  and  an 
unhealthy  climate  brought  severe  illness  on  Aristobulus. 
He  was  forced  to  leave  the  army  and  retired  to  Jerusalem. 
Thither  his  brother  Antigonus  soon  after  came  to  report  on 
his  successful  feats  of  arms  against  the  Arabs.  Palace  in- 
trigues were  on  foot  against  Antigonus.  His  brother's 
mind  was  poisoned  against  him.  Aristobulus  was  per- 
suaded to  test  his  fidelity  by  ordering  him  to  appear  un- 
armed in  his  presence.  This  message  was  falsely  reported 
to  Antigonus,  who  was  led  to  believe  his  brother  wished  to 
see  him  glittering  in  complete  armor.  As  he  approached 
the  sick  chamber,  soldiers  stationed  in  a  dark  corridor  set 
on  him,  and  slew  him.  Noise  of  the  conflict  reached  the 
king,  who,  learning  what  was  taking  place,  was  so  much 
affected  that  he  at  once  had  a  violent  hemorrhage,  from  the 
effect  of  which  he  died,  calling  himself  to  the  last  his 
brother's  murderer. 

Aristobulus  left  no  children.  His  heir  was  his  brother 
Jonathan,  who  bore  the  Greek  name  of  Alexander.  This 
young  man  had  been  no  favorite  with  his  father,  who  had 
sent  him  away  from  court  to  be  brought  up  in  Galilee, 
alarmed,  it  is  said,  by  a  prophecy  that  as  prince  and  pontiff 
he  should  hereafter  sit  upon  his  father's  throne. 

He  at  once  changed  his  Hebrew  name  Jonathan  to 
Jannai,  and  is  known  in  history  as  Alexander  Jannaeus.  It 
is  commonly  said  that  his  wife  Salome,  or  Alexandra,  was  his 
brother's  widow.  This  seems  impossible,  for,  as  he  aspired 
to  the  high-priesthood,  both  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  would 
have  felt  the  law  outraged  if  the  high-priest  had  married 
any  woman  who  had  made  a  previous  marriage. 

Alexander  Jannseus  was  twenty-two  years  old  when  he 
became  King  of  the  Jews,  and  he  reigned  twenty-seven  or 
twenty-eight  years.  His  death  took  place  seventy-eight 
years  before  the  Christian  era.  His  reign  was  on  the  whole 
a  successful  one.  He  added  to  Judea  all  the  former  country 
of  the  Philistines  and  for  a  time  subdued  Moab  and  Gilead, 


190  JUDEA. 

though  his  successes  were  not  permanent  in  that  direction. 
He  seems  to  have  laid  to  heart  his  father's  plan,  which  was 
to  extend  Judea  to  the  utmost  limits  of  Palestine,  thus  oc- 
cupying all  the  country  that  had  been  given  originally  to 
the  Ten  Tribes. 

The  idea  in  Ezra's  time  that  no  man  of  an  alien  race 
could  be  accounted  a  Jew,  even  if  he  conformed  to  Judaism 
and  worshipped  the  Lord  Jehovah,  seems  to  have  given  way 
to  a  desire  to  make  Jews  (at  least  so  far  as  Jewish  rites 
could  make  them)  of  alien  people.  This  Palestinian  idea  of 
proselytizing  by  force  was  very  different  from  the  growing 
zeal  for  proselytism  by  conviction,  active  at  this  time  in 
Alexandria.  Alexander  Jannseus  forced  whole  populations 
to  submit  to  Jewish  rites  and  account  themselves  Jews. 
His  troops  were  chiefly  mercenaries  drawn  from  Cyprus 
and  Asia  Minor,  as  he  did  not  dare  to  incorporate  Syrians 
with  Jews. 

Though  in  the  main  his  wars  were  attended  with  success, 
he  sometimes  failed,  as  when  the  Arabs  enticed  his  army 
into  a  ravine,  and  utterly  annihilated  it,  Alexander  himself 
escaping  with  great  difficulty. 

An  ex-king  of  Egypt  at  one  time  presumptuously  marched 
his  armies  without  permission  through  Judea,  and  ravaged 
the  country  on  every  side.  He  was  opposed  by  Jewish  gen- 
erals sent  to  the  assistance  of  Jannseus  by  the  Egyptian 
queen  Cleopatra,  then  reigning  in  Alexandria,  and  was  forced 
to  withdraw  to  Cyprus. 

But  while  the  whole  heart  of  Alexander  Jannaeus  was  set 
on  war  and  conquest,  his  kingdom  was  distracted  by  internal 
dissensions  between  Sadducees  and  Pharisees.  Alexander 
leaned  to  the  party  of  the  Sadducees,  and  was  in  conse- 
quence highly  unpopular  with  their  rivals  of  the  opposite 
faction. 

His  wife  Salome,  or  Alexandra,  was  sister  to  Simon  ben 
Shetach,  the  leader  of  the  Pharisees.  This  man  enjoyed 
much  favor  at  court,  and  endeavored  to  make  peace, 
though  his  efforts  were  unsuccessful.  The  Pharisees  and 
their  adherents,  who,  in  broad  terms,  may  be  said  to  have 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  191 

been  a  large  majority  of  the  nation,  went  so  far  as  to  treat 
their  high-priest  in  public  with  indignity. 

On  one  occasion,  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  it  was  his 
duty  as  high-priest  to  pour  water  from  a  golden  ewer  over 
the  sacrifice  upon  the  altar.  This  ceremony  was  considered 
an  innovation  on  the  Law  of  Moses  by  the  Sadducees. 
Alexander  in  derision  emptied  the  water  on  his  own  feet. 
Worshippers,  who  crowded  the  courts  of  the  Temple  on 
that  day,  carried  the  loulab  (that  is,  a  sort  of  bouquet  com- 
posed of  palms  and  the  fruit  and  branches  of  the  citron 
tree).  These  they  hurled  at  the  head  of  the  high-priest  as 
he  descended  from  the  altar,  shouting  the  old  scandal,  that 
he  was  unworthy  to  exercise  the  priestly  office  since  his 
grandmother  had  been  a  Syrian  slave  !  Alexander  Jannseus, 
exasperated  beyond  bearing,  ordered  his  band  of  merce- 
naries to  charge  the  crowd.  The  massacre  was  horrible. 
Josephus  says  six  thousand  Pharisees  were  left  dead  in  the 
courts  of  the  Temple.  And  Alexander  had  a  screen,  or 
partition  wall,  built  up,  which  effectually  precluded  worship- 
pers from  doing  more  than  gaze  at  the  priests  who  officiated 
at  the  Altar  of  Sacrifice. 

It  was  shortly  after  this  that  Alexander  failed  in  an  ex- 
pedition against  the  Arabs.  His  schemes  of  conquest  had 
absorbed  all  his  thoughts,  and  he  had  not  perceived  that  if 
he  lost  the  hearts  of  his  own  countrymen  the  very  life  of  the 
State  would  be  sapped,  and  his  power  would  become  in- 
secure. His  people  were  so  enraged  against  him,  not  only 
by  his  defeat  but  by  his  cruelties,  that  civil  war  broke  out, 
which  Josephus  says  lasted  six  years,  and  cost  the  lives  of  fifty 
thousand  Jews.  Thus  after  three  generations  the  successors 
of  the  great  Asmoneans  had  so  far  wrecked  the  edifice 
raised  by  the  blood  of  their  great  ancestors,  their  noble 
sacrifices,  and  their  incessant  labors,  that  it  is  a  marvel  that 
it  did  not  altogether  fall. 

The  king  with  his  mercenaries  had  now  to  encounter, 
not  a  foreign  foe,  but  the  Jewish  people.  At  length,  weary 
of  the  strife,  Jannseus  condescended  to  ask  on  what  terms 
they  would  make  peace  with  him.  "  That  thou  shalt  die  !  " 


IQ2  JUDEA. 

was  their  fierce  answer,  and  they  summoned  to  their  aid 
Demetrius  III.,  King  of  Syria. 

This  prince  at  once  responded  to  the  call.  He  entered 
Palestine  and  defeated  Jannseus,  who  took  refuge  in  the 
mountains.  But  the  bulk  of  the  Jewish  people  became 
alarmed  when  they  forecast  the  consequences  of  the  entrance 
of  a  Syrian  king  into  Jerusalem.  They  took  pity  on  their 
sovereign,  their  co-religionist,  and  their  countryman.  Six 
thousand  Jewish  soldiers,  who  had  joined  the  army  of 
Demetrius,  went  over  to  the  standard  of  Jannseus.  The 
Syrian  king  was  disgusted  by  the  fickleness  and  factional 
fury  of  his  allies.  He  retired  with  his  army,  and  left  the 
Jews  to  settle  their  disputes  among  themselves. 

Then  the  civil  war  went  on.  Jannseus  having  stormed  a 
city  in  which  eight  hundred  Pharisees  of  rank  and  influence 
had  taken  refuge,  brought  them  as  prisoners  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  had  them  crucified.  As  they  hung  upon  their 
crosses  it  is  said  that  their  wives  and  children  were  put  to 
death  before  their  eyes,  while  the  king  and  his  concubines, 
to  whom  he  was  giving  a  banquet,  looked  triumphantly  on 
the  dreadful  scene.  This  atrocious  deed  earned  for  Jan- 
nseus a  Greek  surname  —  Thrakidas  —  meaning  at  once  a 
"  torturer  "  and  an  "  executioner." 

The  night  after  this  atrocity  eight  thousand  Jews  quitted 
Jerusalem,  making  their  way  to  Egypt  or  beyond  Jordan. 
They  never  returned  to  Judea  during  the  life  of  Jannseus, 
who  continued  to  wage  war  with  the  surrounding  nations ; 
but  "  peace  reigned  "  in  Jerusalem,  the  stillness  and  peace 
which  arise  sometimes  from  despair. 

The  city  of  Pella  beyond  Jordan,  peopled  in  the  days  of 
Alexander  the  Great  by  a  colony  of  Macedonian  veterans, 
refused  to  give  up  its  national  worship  for  that  of  the  Jews. 
It  was  levelled  with  the  ground,  and  the  success  of  the 
arms  of  Jannseus  against  the  heathen  seemed  in  the  eyes  of 
his  subjects  almost  to  atone  for  the  crimes  he  was  charged 
with  nearer  home. 

The  Jewish  State,  as  enlarged  by  John  Hyrcanus  and 
Alexander  Jannseus,  was  small  according  to  our  ideas  of  an 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  193 

independent  kingdom,  but  it  was  the  largest  that  sprang 
into  birth  from  the  dismemberment  of  the  Seleucid  Empire. 
It  comprised  Galilee  and  Samaria,  Judea,  southern  Judea, 
or  Idumea,  the  country  beyond  Jordan,  the  land  of  the 
Philistines,  and  all  places  on  the  sea-coast  from  Carmel  to 
Egypt,  except  Ascalon.  Flourishing  Greek  cities,  both  on 
the  coast  and  inland,  had  been  destroyed  by  the  mercenaries 
of  Jannseus;  the  effect  of  the  Macedonian  conquest  was 
nullified  in  one  third  of  Syria. 

An  opinion  grew  up  among  the  Jews  that  to  the  de- 
scendants of  Mattathiah  was  reserved  the  privilege  of 
delivering  Judea  from  the  yoke  of  Syria ;  that  God  would 
not  favor  any  man  who  attempted  to  intrude  into  their 
work ;  that  priests  especially  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
mission  of  deliverance,  unless  they  were  of  the  Asmonean 
family. 

In  those  days  the  First  Book  of  Maccabees  seems  to  have 
been  composed.  It  contains  an  account  of  the  Holy  War, 
which  lasted  about  forty  years,  from  the  revolt  of  Mattathiah 
to  the  death  of  Simon.  The  same  author  also  compiled 
annals  of  the  reign  of  John  Hyrcanus  ;  but  these  have  been 
lost.  The  First  Book  of  Maccabees  shows  gleams  of  the 
old  literary  genius  of  the  Jewish  people.  It  was  written  in 
Hebrew,  but  has  been  preserved  for  us  only  in  a  Greek 
translation.  The  narratives  it  contains  may  have  been  in 
part  founded  upon  earlier  records,  but  the  author  seems  to 
have  relied  chiefly  upon  oral  tradition,  —  narratives  taken 
down  from  the  lips  of  last  survivors  of  the  great  struggle. 
Occasionally  adventures  are  told  in  fragments  of  rude  verse  ; 
like  the  songs  of  the  Scalds  or  the  ballads  of  border  warfare. 
But  what  continually  surprises  us  in  this  interesting  and 
remarkable  book  "  is,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  the  good  sense  of 
its  author,  and  the  firm  grasp  of  his  thought.  The  success 
of  the  war  of  independence  he  attributes  to  the  courage 
and  skill  of  the  Maccabean  brothers.  .  .  .  His  liking  for 
military  details  denotes  a  soldier.  The  motive  that  makes 
a  man  brave  death  is  the  feeling  that  he  dies  for  his  people, 
and  for  the  laws  of  his  fathers.  .  .  .  The  stain  which  the 

13 


194  JUDEA. 

least  recoil  from  danger  would  stamp  upon  his  fame  holds 
him  up  when  otherwise  he  might  be  tempted  to  falter."1 

The  little  Jewish  kingdom  under  Alexander  Jannaeus  had 
no  wish  to  be  thought  behindhand  in  marks  of  civilization 
proper  to  a  Greek  State.  Great  buildings,  carefully  con- 
structed, were  multiplied  in  and  around  Jerusalem,  and  it 
is  possible  that  the  cost  of  these  constructions  may  (as  in 
the  case  of  Solomon  and  Herod)  have  been  one  of  the 
causes  of  discontent  that  troubled  the  last  years  of  an  un- 
quiet reign.  The  white  marble  monument  erected  at 
Modin  to  Mattathiah,  Judas  Maccabaeus  and  his  brethren 
was  so  lofty  that  although  fifteen  miles  from  the  sea-coast, 
its  gleam  could  be  seen  by  ships  as  they  drew  near  to 
Joppa.  It  became,  indeed,  the  fashion  for  wealthy  Jews  to 
erect  beautiful  tombs  in  the  valley  of  the  Kedron,  and  in 
other  environs  of  Jerusalem.  Many  of  these  sepulchres 
may  still  be  seen. 

We  are  not  sorry  to  learn  that  the  latter  years  of  Alex- 
ander Jannseus  were  sad,  and  full  of  disappointment.  He 
was  only  forty-nine  when  he  died,  but  he  was  worn  out  by 
fatigue  and  dissipation.  By  way  of  distraction  from  present 
fears  and  haunting  memories,  he  became  a  drunkard,  and 
self-indulgence  brought  him  to  his  end.  The  queen, 
Salome,  or  Alexandra,  was  esteemed  a  person  of  rigid  piety, 
and  she  was  strongly  attached  to  the  Pharisees.  She  had 
always  censured  the  harsh  treatment  of  their  party  by  her 
husband  ;  and  in  his  last  hours  of  apprehension  and  distress 
he  fancied  she  might  propitiate  the  popular  sect,  and  save 
the  dynasty.  He  therefore  conferred  the  royal  power  upon 
her,  after  his  death,  and  left  his  eldest  son  Hyrcanus  the 
high-priesthood. 

Alexandra  was  a  woman  who  could  well  play  the  part 
assigned  to  her.  She  loved  power  almost  with  frenzy,  and 
she  believed  that  in  the  exercise  of  it  women  were  often 
more  skilful  than  men.  Her  chief  care  was  to  gain  her 
ends.  Nor  was  she  always  scrupulous  as  to  means  of  attain- 
ing them.  As  soon  as  she  was  established  on  the  throne 
1  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v. 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  195 

all  places  of  power  and  trust  were  given  to  the  Pharisees. 
Well  satisfied  with  this,  they  changed  their  opinion  of 
Alexander  Jannaeus.  They  spoke  of  him  as  a  brilliant 
warrior  and  a  great  sovereign,  and  decreed  him  a  magnifi- 
cent funeral.  But  a  year  later  the  populace  celebrated  the 
anniversary  of  his  death  with  rejoicings. 

Alexandra  reigned  nine  years  in  peace.  She  had  borne 
Alexander  Jannseus  two  sons.  Hyrcanus,  the  elder,  who 
succeeded  his  father  as  high-priest,  was  a  weak  prince. 
His  private  life  was  irreproachable,  but  he  was  not  fitted  to 
fill  a  public  post  in  troubled  times.  His  more  active  and 
capable  younger  brother,  Aristobulus,  was  allowed  to  take  no 
part  in  public  affairs. 

The  Pharisees  finding  themselves  in  power,  appeared  al- 
most satisfied,  nor  did  the  Sadducees  utter  any  complaints. 
Alexandra  wisely  abstained  from  persecution.  Her  great 
desire  was  to  enforce  religious  observances,  and  to  put 
everything  back  on  the  basis  of  the  Law.  To  her  own 
brother  Simon  ben  Shetach  she  offered  the  presidency  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  but  he  refused  the  office  in  favor  of  a  man 
of  great  learning,  Judah  ben  Tobai,  who  was  one  of  those 
who  had  sought  safety  in  Alexandria  during  the  last  years 
of  Alexander  Jannaeus.  This  Judah,  with  the  help  of  Simon 
and  the  support  of  Alexandra,  undertook  to  reorganize  the 
Supreme  Council,  whose  Sadducean  members  were  ex- 
pelled. Courts  of  justice  were  re-established,  religious 
observances  were  resumed,  education  was  promoted  by  the 
establishment  of  schools,  besides  many  other  peaceful  and 
praiseworthy  reforms.  But  these  were  not  sufficient  to 
satisfy  public  sentiment ;  the  most  thorough -going  section 
of  the  Pharisees  insisted  that  the  whole  nation,  in  its  habits 
of  domestic  life,  should  return  to  the  strictest  observance  of 
the  forms  of  Judaism  ;  and  sometimes  the  leaders  did  not 
hesitate  to  employ  severe  and  arbitrary  measures  to  enforce 
their  views.  They  enlarged  the  workings  of  that  system 
of  tradition  which  in  the  end  made  the  Law  itself  of  no 
effect,  as  it  grew  and  developed  under  succeeding  genera- 
tions. Many  half-holidays  and  feast  days  that  had  been 


196  JUDEA. 

abolished  were  now  re-established  and  the  laws  of  divorce 
were  rendered  more  severe,  so  that  a  husband  dissatisfied 
with  his  wife  was  compelled  to  consider  whether  he  could 
afford  to  pay  the  alimony  required  for  her  support  in  case 
of  separation. 

Among  the  festivals  revived  by  the  Pharisees  was  the 
Feast  of  Lights,  which  was  celebrated  in  connection  with 
the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  It  was  particularly  popular  be- 
cause it  threw  discredit  on  the  king  who  had  childishly 
and  recklessly  profaned  it.  On  the  night  succeeding  the 
first  day  of  the  festival  the  western  outer  court  of  the 
Temple  was  brilliantly  illuminated,  and  the  populace 
crowded  to  the  Holy  Mount,  with  torches,  music,  songs  of 
praise,  and  dancing.  In  the  morning  trumpets  summoned 
the  worshippers  to  assemble  round  the  Pool  of  Siloam. 
There  water  was  drawn  in  a  golden  ewer,  carried  to  the 
Temple,  and  the  libation  profaned  by  Alexander  Jannaeus 
was  performed.1  The  queen  was  very  popular.  She  en- 
couraged the  people  to  follow  out  the  strict  rules  laid  down 
by  the  Pharisees,  and  she  repealed  all  the  ordinances  of 
John  Hyrcanus  that  were  contrary  to  their  traditions. 

The  Pharisees  were  of  course  not  slow  to  take  advantage 
of  their  new  position.  Especially  they  demanded  the  ex- 
ecution of  those  officers  who  had  abetted  Jannaeus  in  his 
acts  of  cruelty.  Diogenes,  a  great  favorite  with  his  master, 
and  captain  of  his  mercenaries,  was  given  up  to  them,  as 
well  as  a  few  others.  Terror  spread  through  the  army. 
"The  house  of  Alexander  Jannaeus,"  said  the  soldiers,  "is 
given  over  to  madness,  since  it  destroys  the  very  men  who 
have  given  it  strength  at  the  risk  of  their  lives." 

Aristobulus,  the  younger  son  of  Alexandra,  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  discontented  troops,  and  openly  declared 
that  if  he  were  in  power  he  would  not  permit  his  mother  to 
follow  such  a  line  of  conduct.  In  company  with  a  party  of 
officers  he  repaired  to  the  palace.  There  they  bitterly 
complained  to  the  queen  that  they  were  delivered  over  to 
the  mercy  of  men  who  wanted  to  slaughter  them  like  sheep 
1  John  vii.  37. 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS,  197 

in  the  shambles.  "  If  that  was  to  go  on,"  they  said,  "  they 
would  rather  be  disbanded.  The  enemies  they  had  fought 
against  under  Jannaeus  —  especially,  king  Hareth  of  Arabia 
—  knew  their  value,  and  with  him  they  would  take  service." 
The  least  they  demanded  was  to  be  garrisoned  in  distant 
strongholds  where  they  would  find  safety. 

Aristobulus  enforced  these  demands,  and,  in  his  mother's 
presence,  insolently  reproached  the  soldiers  with  having 
brought  this  state  of  things  upon  themselves  by  confiding 
the  care  of  the  kingdom  to  an  ambitious  woman.  "As  if," 
he  said,  "  her  husband  had  had  no  sons  !  " 

Alexandra,  under  the  pressure  of  necessity,  yielded  to 
the  officers'  demands.  The  mercenaries  —  chiefly  Gauls 
and  Cretans  —  were  sent  to  garrison  strong  places  in  the  pro- 
vinces, but  the  three  great  fortresses,  Hyrcania,  Alexandrion, 
and  Machaerus,  where  the  crown  treasures  were  deposited, 
were  placed  in  charge  of  troops  known  by  the  queen  to  be 
faithfully  devoted  to  her.  Aristobulus  was  given  command 
of  an  army  to  act  against  a  Syrian  prince  who  was  marching 
on  Damascus. 

Alexandra,  though  much  occupied  with  questions  of 
religion,  did  not  neglect  the  secular  cares  of  government. 
She  kept  up  a  body-guard  of  foreign  troops,  and  awed  the 
petty  tyrants  who  governed  the  nations  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  her  own. 

Tigranes,  king  of  Armenia  in  those  days,  invaded  Ccele- 
Syria  and  besieged  Ptolemais  (the  town  of  Acre).  Alex- 
andra propitiated  him  by  valuable  presents,  hoping  thereby 
to  prevent  his  entering  Palestine.  But  the  appearance  of 
a  Roman  army  in  Armenia  was  much  more  effectual. 
Tigranes  quitted  Syria  and  returned  to  his  own  land. 

Alexandra  was  by  this  time  growing  old  (at  least  M. 
Renan  considers  her  very  old)  ;  though  she  probably  was 
barely  seventy.  Aristobulus  foresaw  that  after  her  death  the 
Pharisees  would  be  absolute  masters  in  the  State  under  his 
weak  brother  Hyrcanus,  who  would  then  be  prince- pontiff, 
and  entirely  under  their  influence.  He  resolved  on  a  revo- 
lutionary stroke,  confiding  his  secret  solely  to  his  wife. 


198  JUDEA. 

Leaving  her  in  Jerusalem,  and  accompanied  only  by  a 
servant,  he  made  a  tour  among  the  fortresses  where  the  old 
officers  —  his  father's  friends — were  virtually  imprisoned. 
They  listened  to  him  at  once.  All  joined  in  his  project. 
Alexandra,  when  told  that  her  son  had  left  Jerusalem,  at 
once  suspected  his  design,  but  she  tried  not  to  believe  the 
things  she  feared.  It  soon,  however,  became  plain  that 
Aristobulus  was  preparing  a  coup  (TfLtat.  The  Pharisees 
who  surrounded  the  queen  urged  her  to  seize  his  wife  and 
children,  and  confine  them  as  hostages  in  the  Baris,  which 
overlooked  the  Temple. 

Meantime  Aristobulus,  surrounded  by  a  cohort  like  a 
king,  was  on  his  march  to  Jerusalem.  The  elders  and 
Hyrcanus  pressed  the  queen  to  do  something  to  stop  him. 
It  was  in  vain.  Alexandra  was  near  her  end.  She  would 
only  say  :  "  Do  what  you  will.  You  have  the  means.  The 
nation  is  with  you.  Leave  me  in  peace."  They  could  get 
nothing  more  from  her ;  her  strength  was  exhausted.  She 
died  in  the  early  months  of  the  year  69  B.C.  Anna  and 
Simeon,  of  whom  we  read  in  the  New  Testament,  were 
living  in  her  day.  She  had  ruled  in  comparative  peace  for 
nine  years,  but  she  ruined  the  Asmonean  dynasty.  Wise 
men  held  her  responsible  for  the  troubles  which  followed 
her  death,  and  brought  the  rule  of  the  Maccabees  to  a  close 
with  shame  and  sorrow. 

Aristobulus  assumed  the  title  of  king  as  soon  as  he  was 
informed  of  his  mother's  death.  He  was  confident  of  sup- 
port from  the  troops  scattered  through  the  provinces ;  but 
at  the  same  time  his  brother,  Hyrcanus  the  high-priest, 
was  proclaimed  king,  as  Hyrcanus  II.,  in  Jerusalem.  A 
battle  between  the  brothers  was  fought  near  Jericho.  The 
soldiers  of  Hyrcanus  almost  all  deserted  to  Aristobulus. 
Hyrcanus  himself  sought  refuge  in  the  Baris,  where  he  ca- 
pitulated. His  life  was  spared,  but  he  was  deprived  of  his 
dignity  and  left  to  enjoy  his  large  fortune  in  idleness  and 
seclusion.  Want  of  occupation  is  apt  to  induce  a  weak 
man  to  engage  in  intrigues.  Those  in  which  Hyrcanus  em- 
barked brought  into  prominence  a  great  Idumean  family, 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  199 

which  was  to  play  from  that  time  forward  a  leading  part  in 
the  history  of  the  Jews. 

Alexander  Jannseus  had  appointed  a  certain  Antipater, 
—  probably  a  native  of  the  city  of  Ascalon  —  to  be  Gov- 
ernor of  Idumea.  This  man  was  one  of  those  forcibly  cir- 
cumcised when  the  city  in  which  he  lived  was  conquered  by 
John  Hyrcanus.  His  son,  also  named  Antipater,  appears  to 
have  succeeded  him  as  governor.  About  the  time  we  have 
now  reached,  a  son  was  born  to  this  Antipater,  well  known 
to  all  of  us  as  King  Herod  the  Great. 

Antipater  was  no  zealous  Jew,  though  he  was  one  nom- 
inally. He  cared  little  for  religion,  and  his  heart  was 
not  stirred  by  feelings  of  patriotism.  His  most  intimate 
relations  were  with  the  Arabs  —  the  Nabatheans,  who  dwelt 
in  and  around  Petra.  Their  king,  Hareth  III., x  was  his 
chief  friend.  He  was  resolved  to  make  himself  a  great 
man  in  Judea.  Under  Aristobulus,  who  was  active  and 
enterprising,  he  foresaw  that  this  would  be  difficult,  if  not 
impossible.  The  weak  Hyrcanus  would  better  serve  his 
purpose.  He  persistently  reminded  him  that  he  was  the 
legitimate  prince-pontiff,  —  a  deposed  sovereign.  He 
made  him  believe  that  enemies  were  plotting  against  his 
life,  and  persuaded  him  at  last  to  take  refuge  among  the 
Arabs.  There  he  put  himself  under  the  protection  of 
Hareth,  in  the  cliff  city  of  Petra.  Then  Antipater  induced 
Hareth  to  restablish  Hyrcanus  in  his  own  dominions,  on 
condition  that  when  restored  to  power  he  should  give  back 
to  the  Arabs  the  cities  that  his  father  Jannaeus  had  taken 
from  them. 

Aristobulus  was  attacked  by  Hareth  and  defeated,  after 
which  he  shut  himself  up  in  the  fortified  precincts  of  the 
Temple.  Jerusalem  was  divided  into  two  factions.  The 
siege  of  the  Holy  Mountain  was  begun.  True  Jews,  in- 
dignant at  such  sacrilege,  quitted  Jerusalem  and  went 
down  into  Egypt. 

At  the  Feast  of  the  Passover,  as  the  siege  went  on,  the 
besieged  in  the  Temple  had  no  victims  for  sacrifice.  They 
1  Hareth  and  Aretas  are  the  same  name. 


200  JUDEA. 

appealed  to  their  co-religionists  to  allow  them  to  buy  a 
lamb  at  any  price,  and  the  story  goes  that  the  mixed  mul- 
titude of  Sadducees  and  Arabs  cruelly  deceived  them  by 
allowing  them  to  hoist  over  the  wall  into  the  Temple  an 
unclean  hog !  The  Arabs  also  drew  a  holy  man  named 
Onias  from  his  place  of  retirement,  and  set  him  to  curse 
Aristobulus  and  his  followers,  as  Balaam  had  been  employed 
by  Balak  to  curse  the  children  of  Israel.  But  Onias  made 
a  prayer,  reported  by  Josephus :  "  O  God,  King  of  the 
universe,  since  the  men  who  here  surround  me  are  thy 
people,  and  those  whom  they  besiege  are  thy  priests,  I 
pray  thee  not  to  hear  their  prayers  against  these  men,  and 
not  to  grant  to  these  what  they  may  ask  thee  against 
those." 

For  this  prayer  the  man  of  God  was  stoned.  He  died  a 
martyr. 

Meantime,  while  this  miserable,  fratricidal  war  was  in 
progress  in  what  then  seemed  to  historians  a  little  insig- 
nificant corner  of  the  earth,  but  which,  now  that  nineteen 
centuries  have  passed  away,  is  the  spot  beyond  all  others  of 
most  interest  and  importance  to  the  civilized  world,  a 
mighty  power  was  overrunning  the  East,  breaking  all  things 
to  pieces  as  it  passed,  but  everywhere  establishing  peace  and 
some  show  of  order,  justice,  and  law.  "  It  was  the  beast," 
says  Graetz,  "  with  iron  teeth,  brazen  claws,  and  a  heart 
of  stone,  that  should  devour  much,  and  trample  the  rest 
under  foot,  which  came  upon  the  Judean  nation  to  drink 
its  blood,  eat  its  flesh,  and  suck  its  marrow." 

Rome  had  exercised  in  the  Far  East  considerable  influ- 
ence for  more  than  a  century.  Now  her  legions  came 
rolling  over  Syria  like  some  terrible,  irresistible  crushing- 
machine,  "  to  whose  force,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  that  of  the 
armies  of  Assyria,  Persia,  or  even  of  Alexander  could  not 
be  compared.  Mithridates  had  been  swept  away  like  straw 
upon  a  torrent.  Pompey  in  Armenia  was  absolute  master 
of  a  large  part  of  Western  Asia,  .  .  .  and  now  with  a  vigorous 
blow  of  his  fist  he  was  about  to  put  an  end  to  all  the 
wretched  divisions,  local  dynasties,  and  bands  of  foreign 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  2OI 

mercenaries  under  which  the  Syrian  Empire  was  perishing. 
Rome  did  not  concern  herself  about  the  religion  of  her 
provinces ;  she  left  that  question  to  everybody's  choice,  and 
in  that  was  her  great  superiority.  Rome  was  roughly  rea- 
sonable, but  yet  reasonable  after  all.  She  would  never 
have  committed  the  folly  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes."  1  Her 
view  was  that  the  Roman  religion  was  best  for  Romans. 
But  to  the  rest  of  the  world  she  aimed  to  give  peace  and 
order,  and  to  each  man  the  privilege  of  living  under  the 
mighty  protection  of  the  State.  "  Thus  Rome  was  to  have 
dominion,  whilst  her  provinces  had  peace,  and  by  reason  ' 
of  her  desire  (sometimes  beneficent,  sometimes  the  re- 
verse) of  putting  in  her  hand  wherever  anything  seemed 
likely  to  become  more  orderly  through  her  interference, 
she  became  at  length  the  great  police  power  of  the  world." 

In  the  year  65  B.C.  Pompey  sent  ^milius  Scaurus,  his 
lieutenant,  into  Syria  to  report  on  the  condition  of  affairs. 
All  cities,  districts,  and  dynasties  which  had  formed  part  of 
the  old  empire  of  the  Seleucidae  at  once  vied  with  one 
another  in  base  endeavors  to  secure  his  favor.  Both  fac- 
tions fighting  round  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  sent  him  an 
ambassador.  The  envoy  of  Aristobulus  offered  him  three 
hundred  talents.  Hyrcanus  gave  him  only  promises.3 

Scaurus,  both  because  of  the  money  he  received,  and 
because  he  heard  favorable  reports  of  the  talent  and  ac- 
tivity of  Aristobulus,  took  his  part.  So  soon  as  Hareth 
understood  this  he  raised  the  siege  of  the  Temple,  and 
accompanied  by  Hyrcanus  retreated  to  Petra,  closely  fol- 
lowed by  Aristobulus  and  his  men. 

After  this  Aristobulus  kept  his  kingdom  in  peace  for  a 
time,  only  employing  his  troops  by  sea  and  land  in  raids 
and  piracies. 

Two  years  later  Pompey  himself  made  a  sort  of  police 
inspection  of  Syria,  putting  down  and  executing  a  number  of 
petty  local  tyrants.  When  he  reached  Damascus  ambas- 
sadors from  Egypt  and  Antioch  came  to  do  him  honor; 

1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v. 

2  M.  Renan  thinks  both  offered  four  hundred  talents. 


202  JUDEA. 

there  too,  obedient  to  his  summons,  came  the  two  rival 
claimants  for  the  crown  and  high-priesthood  of  Judea. 

Pompey,  not  having  fully  decided  which  of  the  Jewish 
brothers  he  preferred  to  favor,  held  a  sort  of  trial  of  their 
claims.  Aristobulus1  and  Hyrcanus  were  each  provided 
with  an  advocate,  but  there  was  a  third  party  maintained 
by  an  orator  who  insisted  that  Jewish  public  opinion  was 
indifferent  to  both  the  contending  parties ;  that  the  Jews 
had  no  preference  for  royalty,  that  their  national  custom 
was  to  obey  their  priests,  and  that  the  two  rivals,  although 
both  of  priestly  race,  were  endeavoring  to  change  the 
form  of  government,  and  deprive  the  people  of  their 
liberty. 

On  hearing  this,  Aristobulus  put  on  a  haughty  air  ex- 
tremely distasteful  to  Pompey,  who  at  once  declared  that 
he  could  not  decide  the  cause  upon  the  spot,  but  would 
visit  Jerusalem  as  soon  as  he  should  have  settled  the  affairs 
of  the  Nabatheans. 

Meantime  the  behavior  of  Aristobulus  was  characterised 
by  pique,  petulance,  and  folly.  Pompey  lost  patience  with 
him.  The  Roman  army  had  advanced  as  far  as  Jericho, 
and  pitched  a  camp  near  there.  One  morning  when  Pom- 
pey, with  great  satisfaction,  had  received  news  of  the  over- 
throw and  suicide  of  Mithridates,  he  resolved  to  set  out 
without  an  hour's  delay  for  Jerusalem.  In  truth  he  was 
anxious  to  complete  the  subjugation  of  Syria,  and  to  hurry 
back  to  Rome,  where  he  expected  to  receive  the  honor  of 
a  triumph.  Half  way  upon  his  march  to  Jerusalem  he  met 
Aristobulus,  coming  to  greet  him  with  protestations  of  friend- 
ship, combined  with  an  assurance  that  he  both  could  and 
would  admit  a  party  of  Romans  into  Jerusalem. 

Pompey  accepted  his  proposal  and  sent  Gabinius,  in  com- 
pany with  Aristobulus,  to  take  possession  of  the  city. 

1  As  a  propitiatory  offering  Aristobulus  sent  Pompey  a  golden 
vine,  worth,  some  writers  say,  five  hundred  talents.  This  was  after- 
wards placed  in  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  in  Rome.  There 
Strabo  saw  it.  From  an  inscription  engraved  on  it  in  Greek  it 
seemed  to  have  been  made  in  the  time  of  Alexander  Jannaeus  and 
placed  among  the  treasures  of  the  Temple. 


POM  FEY, 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  2O3 

But  Aristobulus  had  promised  what  he  could  not  perform. 
Gabinius  and  his  Romans  were  ill-received  by  the  defenders 
of  the  Holy  City.  Enraged,  he  put  Aristobulus  under 
arrest,  and  Pompey,  much  chagrined  by  the  delay,  pre- 
pared for  a  regular  siege  of  Jerusalem. 

Pompey  was  a  vain  man,  with  a  disposition  to  exaggerate 
his  own  importance,  and  he  liked  to  interfere  in  troubles  in 
which  he  need  have  taken  no  concern.  The  Pharisees 
in  Jerusalem  were  not  indisposed  to  receive  the  Romans ; 
the  party  of  Aristobulus  made  ready  to  resist  them. 
Hyrcanus  actively  bestirred  himself  in  opposition  to  his 
brother,  by  whose  party  the  Temple  was  strongly  fortified. 

The  city  gates  were  thrown  open  on  the  approach  of 
Pompey.  His  representative  Piso  arranged  everything 
concerning  his  entry.  The  Roman  general  took  up  his 
quarters  in  the  Asmonean  Palace.  But  the  soldiers  of 
Aristobulus  and  a  few  priests  shut  themselves  up  in  the 
sacred  precincts,  and  the  viaduct  which  connected  the  rest 
of  the  city  with  the  Temple  Hill  was  broken  down. 
Hyrcanus  did  all  he  could  to  aid  the  labors  of  the  Romans. 
The  earthworks  which  they  raised  against  the  Temple 
Mount  must  have  been  a  tremendous  undertaking.  Siege 
engines  were  brought  from  Tyre,  and  soon  the  Romans  began 
to  hurl  immense  blocks  of  stone  against  the  Temple. 

It  had  become  a  rule  of  warfare  among  the  Jews  since 
the  days  of  Mattathiah  and  Judas  Maccabaeus,  that  on  the 
Sabbath  day  they  might  repel  an  attack,  and  strike  blow 
for  blow,  but  they  might  not  on  that  day  hinder  an  enemy 
in  any  other  way.  The  Romans,  knowing  this,  got  their 
engines  into  position  on  the  Sabbath,  and  put  them  in  use 
the  next  day. 

During  all  this  time,  with  great  stones  crushing  on  the 
roof  of  the  Temple  and  its  walls,  the  daily  service  was  not 
interrupted,  the  morning  sacrifice,  and  the  evening  sacrifice 
at  the  ninth  hour  (3  p.  m.)  never  failed  to  be  offered.  On 
the  day  of  the  final  assault  the  carnage  round  the  Sanctuary 
was  horrible,  but  those  engaged  in  worship  went  on  with 
their  usual  ceremonies. 


204  JUDEA. 

It  was  October  10  in  the  year  63  B.C.  that  a  wide  breach 
was  effected,  and  the  Romans  advanced  to  the  assault  of 
the  Temple.  A  son  of  Sylla  the  dictator,  with  his  cohort, 
was  the  first  to  mount.  The  party  of  Aristobulus  fought 
desperately,  but  popular  opinion  was  against  them.  As 
soon  as  they  were  overpowered,  order  in  the  city  was 
restored. 

This  capture  of  a  city  of  priests  was  not  considered  by 
Pompey's  enemies  in  Rome  a  very  difficult  or  glorious 
undertaking.  There  were  even  wits  who  made  fun  of  the 
general's  complacency  in  his  triumph.  But  his  conduct 
was  marked  by  self-control  which  did  him  honor,  though 
he  had  no  opportunity  to  show  great  heroism  on  the  occa- 
sion. Surrounded  by  his  officers  he  entered  the  Temple. 
He  went  into  the  Holy  Place,  and  gazed  into  the  Sanctuary. 
To  his  surprise  he  saw  no  ass's  head,  nor  any  other  symbol 
of  worship.  He  saw  the  golden  table  for  shew-bread  ;  the 
seven-branched  candlestick,  the  sacred  vessels,  the  incense 
laid  up  in  store,  and  in  the  Treasure  Chambers  piles  of 
gold  amounting  to  two  thousand  talents.  He  touched 
nothing,  but  respected  everything  connected  with  Jewish 
worship.  The  next  day  he  had  the  Temple  thoroughly 
cleansed,  and  ordered  the  daily  service  to  be  resumed. 

Thus  fell,  in  the  year  of  Cicero's  consulship,  the  royalty 
born  of  the  heroism  of  the  Asmoneans.  The  Jews  were 
grateful  to  Pompey  for  his  moderation.  They  never  looked 
upon  him  as  they  had  done  on  Nebuchadnezzar,  Antiochus, 
Ptolemy  Philopater,  or  as  afterwards  they  regarded  Titus. 
The  fall  of  the  Asmonean  dynasty  seems  to  have  been  a 
relief  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem. 

Israel  by  this  time  belonged  wholly  to  the  party  of  the 
Pharisees.  Pompey  by  force  of  arms  vanquished  only  the 
military.  All  that  the  Jews  wanted  was  religious  liberty, 
or  rather  non-interference  with  the  obligations  laid  upon 
them  by  their  Law.  The  Pharisees  preferred  Rome,  which 
cared  for  none  of  the  things  connected  with  their  religion, 
to  a  dynasty  —  national  indeed  —  but  in  general  hostile  to 
their  ideas. 


THE  LATER  ASMONEANS.  205 

Strabo  tells  us  that  somewhere  about  this  period  he  met 
with  a  liberal-minded  Jew,  whose  feelings  with  respect  to 
the  Temple  he  was  at  pains  to  discover.  "  Our  people  " 
said  the  Israelite,  "  hate  it  as  a  den  of  tyrants,  but  revere 
it  as  a  Sanctuary." 

Hyrcanus  was  confirmed  in  the  pontificate  by  Pompey, 
but  all  secular  authority  was  taken  away  from  him,  while 
Antipater  was  made  civil  governor  of  Judea.  Thus  the 
high-priest  became  a  vassal  of  Rome,  appointed  by  Roman 
authority.  Those  Jews  who  had  been  most  active  in  the 
war  were  beheaded.  Jerusalem  became  tributary  to  the 
Romans.  The  conquests  of  John  Hyrcanus  and  of  Alex- 
ander Jannseus  beyond  Jordan  and  in  Ccele-Syria,  were 
annulled.  All  the  seaboard  of  Judea  was  lost.  The  free 
cities  subjugated  or  destroyed  by  triumphant  Jews  (among 
them  Pella,  Azotus,  Gaza,  and  Joppa)  were  restored  to  liberty. 
Gadara,  which  the  Jews  had  torn  down  shortly  before,  was 
rebuilt  by  Pompey  at  the  request  of  his  freedman,  Demetrius 
the  Gadarene. 

Samaria  was  not  rebuilt  at  this  time,  but  the  country  was 
no  longer  under  the  oppressive  yoke  of  the  Jews.  The 
Jewish  dominion  consisted  of  two  parts,  Galilee  and  Judea, 
separated  by  Samaria,  which  lay  between  them. 

All  Syria  became  a  Roman  province.  Scaurus  was  its 
first  pro-consul.  Roman  justice  was  established,  and  on 
justice  followed  peace  and  order ;  but  these  blessings  cost 
men  dear.  In  a  short  time  more  than  ten  thousand  talents 
had  been  paid  over  to  the  conquerors. 

"  But  while  to  Judea  the  triumph  of  the  Romans  seemed 
a  great  deliverance,  it  was  of  unspeakable  importance  to 
ourselves.  Christianity  could  not  have  expanded  under  a 
Jewish  national  monarchy ;  that  monarchy  was  therefore 
set  aside."  l 

Aristobulus,  with  his  sons  and  his  two  daughters,  followed 

his  conqueror  to  Rome  in  chains.    One  son.  Alexander,  who 

had  married  his  cousin,  the  daughter  of  Hyrcanus,  made  his 

escape,  while  on  the  way ;  the  other,  Antigonus,  with  his 

1  Renan. 


206  JUDEA. 

sisters,  appeared  in  Pompey's  triumph  61  B.C.  A  very  great 
number  of  Jewish  captives  were  also  brought  to  Rome,  and 
greatly  increased  the  strength  of  an  already  flourishing 
colony  in  that  city,  which  afterwards  became  of  great 
importance  in  the  Christian  world. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   RISE    OF   HEROD. 

TDOMPEY  quitted  Judea  the  year  after  he  had  besieged 
and  won  the  Temple.  Palestine  was  thenceforward 
to  form  a  district  in  one  of  the  provinces  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  to  share  its  destinies.  It  was  incorporated 
with  Syria,  of  which  ^Emilius  Scaurus  was  appointed  legate, 
or  proconsul.  Judea  quietly  submitted  to  Roman  rule.  The 
only  people  who  still  resisted  Rome's  mighty  power  in 
that  part  of  the  East  were  the  Nabathean  Arabs.  Scaurus, 
however,  conquered  their  King  Hareth,  or  Aretas,  but 
Pompey  claimed  the  honor  of  the  victory. 

In  the  year  57  B.  c.  Gabinius  was  made  proconsul  of 
Syria,  and  governed  his  province  for  two  years.  He  had 
held  an  important  command  under  Pompey,  and  was  in  all 
things  devoted  to  his  patron.  Like  him  he  had  a  mania 
for  asserting  his  own  importance. 

He  divided  Palestine  into  five  judicial  districts,  an  ar- 
rangement extremely  distasteful  to  the  Jews,  as  it  impaired 
the  authority  of  their  Sanhedrim.  He  also  rebuilt  cities 
destroyed  by  the  Asmonean  princes.  Population  came 
back  to  places  which  had  been  laid  waste  thirty  or  forty 
years  before. 

Gabinius  was  notorious  for  his  exactions,  even  at  a  time 
when  the  pillage  of  provinces  seemed  the  perquisite  of  a 
proconsul,  but  at  any  rate  his  administration  was  an  im- 
mense advance  on  that  of  the  later  Asmoneans.  As  M. 
Renan  phrases  it,  "  The  people  had  complete  religious 
liberty,  but  were  no  longer  permitted  to  commit  religious 
murders." 

Pompey  had  been  lenient  in  his  treatment  of  Aristobulus 
and  his  family,  though  they  were  forced  to  grace  his  triumph 


208  JUDEA. 

in  chains.  Alexander,  the  son  who  had  succeeded  in  mak- 
ing his  escape  on  his  journey  to  Italy,  reappeared  in  Judea, 
and  in  the  year  57  B.C.  entered  Jerusalem,  and  drove 
out  the  high-priest  Hyrcanus,  his  uncle  and  father  in- law. 
Gabinius  sent  against  him  his  lieutenant  Mark  Antony. 
Seconded  by  Antipater  (the  father  of  Herod),  Antony  de- 
feated Alexander,  who  would  have  been  utterly  crushed 
but  for  the  activity  and  influence  of  his  mother,  who,  re- 
membering that  her  husband  and  three  other  children  were 
held  in  Rome  as  hostages,  sought  an  interview  with  Ga- 
binius, and  by  money  and  intercession,  persuaded  him  to 
show  mercy  to  her  son.  Hyrcanus  was  brought  back  to 
Jerusalem  and  reinstated  in  the  pontificate. 

Before  long,  Aristobulus,  with  his  younger  son  Antigonus, 
escaped  from  Rome.  He  returned  to  Judea,  where  the 
rule  of  the  Romans,  and  of  Antipater,  had  been  considered 
by  the  Jews  so  oppressive  that  he  was  received  with  enthu- 
siasm by  those  who  had  previously  hated  and  opposed  him. 
He  was,  however,  recaptured  by  the  Romans  in  the  strong 
fortress  of  Machserus  beyond  Jordan,  on  the  edge  of  the 
wild  country  peopled  by  the  Arabs.  Gabinius  sent  him 
back  to  Rome  in  chains,  but  interceded  with  the  Senate 
for  permission  for  his  children  to  reside  in  Judea.  It  looks 
as  if  he  had  pledged  his  word  to  their  mother  that  they 
should  be  left  at  liberty. 

Antipater  of  Idumea,  meanwhile,  made  himself  the 
humble  servant  of  the  Romans,  seeking  in  every  way  to 
prove  to  them  how  useful  they  might  find  the  Jews  if  they 
only  knew  how  to  manage  them. 

Gabinius,  after  returning  from  an  expedition  to  Egypt 
which  followed  the  overthrow  and  capture  of  Aristobulus, 
found  Judea  in  a  ferment.  The  Roman  garrison  had  left  Jeru- 
salem, and  was  encamped  on  Mount  Gerizim,  where  it  was 
being  besieged  by  Alexander.  In  vain  Antipater  had  been 
trying  to  intervene  between  the  contending  parties.  Alex- 
ander was  routed  by  the  Romans,  and  Gabinius  returned 
to  Rome  (52  B.C.)  to  answer  charges  that  had  been  laid 
against  him. 


THE  RISE   OF  HEROD.  2OQ 

He  was  succeeded  by  Crassus  as  proconsul  of  Syria,  a 
man  already  notorious  for  acts  of  extortion  and  pillage. 
On  his  way  to  attack  the  Parthians  he  turned  aside  into 
Judea,  and  once  mflre  robbed  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  of 
its  golden  ornaments,  under  pretence  that  money  must  be 
raised  to  carry  on  the  war.  It  is  said  that  he  accepted  a 
bribe  of  a  solid  bar  of  gold  in  return  for  a  promise  that  he 
would  spare  the  Temple  Treasury,  but  he  could  not  resist 
the  temptation  to  carry  off  the  two  thousand  talents  Pompey 
had  left  untouched. 

In  this  war  with  the  Parthians  Crassus  was  defeated,  and 
being  made  prisoner  was  put  to  death  by  being  forced  to 
swallow  molten  gold. 

Caius  Cassius  Longinus  his  lieutenant  (the  Cassius  so 
well  known  to  us  in  history  and  Shakespeare),  had  escaped 
from  the  victorious  Parthians,  and  became  his  chiefs  suc- 
cessor. On  returning  from  the  Far  East  he  found  Pales- 
tine again  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  The  insurgents  were 
put  down  and  their  leader  executed.  His  whole  army  was 
captured,  and  his  soldiers  to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of  thirty 
thousand  were  sold  as  slaves.  This  was  done  by  the  advice 
of  Antipater,  whose  influence  with  the  Romans  continued 
to  increase.  In  order  to  please  the  Idumeans,  who,  as 
his  circumcision  numbered  him  among  the  Jews,  persisted 
in  considering  him  a  foreigner,  he  had  married  Cypros,  an 
Idumean  lady  sprung  from  a  noble  family  of  that  race. 

Cassius,  after  this,  made  terms  with  Alexander,  who  went 
to  reside  at  Antioch.  The  rivalry  between  Julius  Caesar 
and  Pompey  was  in  progress.  Public  sentiment  in  Judea 
was  in  favor  of  Caesar,  who,  probably  to  strengthen  his  in- 
fluence in  that  country,  set  Aristobulus  at  liberty,  and  gave 
him  command  of  two  legions.  But  the  Jewish  prince  was 
poisoned  by  the  partisans  of  Pompey  before  he  left  Italy. 
The  body  was  preserved  in  honey.  Subsequently  Antony 
sent  it  to  Jerusalem,  and  it  was  interred  at  Modin  in  the 
mausoleum  of  his  family. 

Pompey  was  much  concerned  when  he  discovered  that 
Caesar  had  designs  against  him  in  Syria.  He  feared  that 

14 


210  JUDEA. 

the  other  son  of  Aristobulus,  —  Alexander,  the  young  man 
dwelling  in  retirement  at  Antioch,  might  take  part  with  his 
rival.  Effectually  to  prevent  this,  he  had  him  beheaded. 

Antigonus  his  brother  was  at  Ascalon,  residing  with  his 
mother  and  sisters,  one  of  whom  (Alexandra)  was  re- 
nowned throughout  the  East  for  her  great  beauty.  She 
married  a  chieftain  in  the  Anti-Libanus,  whose  father,  when 
he  saw  her,  fell  in  love  with  her,  murdered  his  son,  and 
married  his  widow. 

The  battle  of  Pharsalia,  between  Pompey  and  Caesar, 
(48  B.  c.)  made  little  change  in  Judea.  Antipater  became 
the  devoted  adherent  of  Caesar,  as  he  had  been  of  Pompey. 
When  Caesar  found  himself  in  Egypt  without  sufficient 
forces,  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  population  and  without 
news  from  Rome,  Antipater  eagerly  exerted  himself  to 
send  him  reinforcements  and  supplies.  In  return,  when 
the  great  conqueror  came  to  Jerusalem,  he  gave  Antipater 
the  privilege  of  Roman  citizenship,  with  complete  exemp- 
tion from  all  taxes,  and  made  him  procurator  of  Judea. 
where  the  whole  weight  of  power  rested  on  him. 

The  friendship  of  Caesar  was  so  great  a  boon  that  the 
Jews  did  not  fail  to  make  the  most  of  it.  For  many  years 
they  lost  no  opportunity  of  exalting  Caesar  as  their  patron 
and  friend.  M.  Renan  thinks  that  there  was  less  foun- 
dation for  this  claim  in  fact  than  Josephus  would  wish  us 
to  believe,  but  undoubtedly  Caesar,  wherever  he  had  sway, 
was  favorable  to  the  Jewish  people. 

"  The  views  of  this  great  man,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  were 
broad  and  liberal.  He  truly  conceived  liberty  of  conscience 
in  the  sense  of  absolute  neutrality  in  the  State,  as  enlight- 
ened nations  now  do.  He  desired  the  freedom  of  all 
provincial  worships,  and,  if  he  had  lived,  he  doubtless 
would  have  prevented  the  reaction  towards  strictness 
which,  from  the  days  of  Tiberius,  led  the  central  govern- 
ment to  insist  on  too  much  preponderance  for  the  Roman 
worship.  The  Jews  in  Alexandria  had  their  privileges  con- 
firmed. The  free  exercise  of  Jewish  worship  was  stipulated 
for  in  the  principal  towns  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Jews 


THE  RISE   OF  HEROD.  2 1 1 

throughout  the  world  loved  and  regretted  the  dictator. 
Among  the  numerous  provincials  who  mourned  the  Ides 
of  March,  it  was  remarked  that  Jews  for  several  months 
came  to  make  funeral  lamentations  over  his  burial- 
place."  l 

Meantime  Antipater  in  Judea  exercised  all  the  power  of 
a  sovereign.  He  made  friends  with  Hyrcanus,  who  for  the 
tenth  time  had  been  confirmed  in  his  dignity  as  high-priest, 
and  together  they  undertook  to  repair  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
He  made  his  son  Phasael  military  governor  of  the  city,  and 
his  son  Herod,  who  was  then  a  very  young  man,  he  made 
ruler  in  Galilee.  A  band  called  "  robbers,"  but  who  were 
probably  a  remnant  from  the  army  of  Alexander  defeated 
by  Cassius,  claiming  to  be  patriots  like  the  followers  of 
Judas  Maccabseus,  had  established  themselves  on  one  of 
the  mountain  heights  of  Galilee,  under  a  leader  named 
Hezekiah.  Herod,  with  great  cruelty,  but  at  the  same  time 
with  great  prowess,  succeeded  in  exterminating  them,  and 
decapitated  their  leader.  His  brother  Phasael  was  at  the 
same  time  gaining  the  good-will  of  the  populace  in  Jeru- 
salem. The  Idumean  family  seemed  to  be  fast  acquiring 
the  place  and  power  that  had  belonged  to  the  Asmoneans. 

Little  toleration  was,  however,  felt  for  Antipater  and  his 
sons  by  the  strict  Pharisees.  They  reproached  the  high- 
priest  Hyrcanus  for  his  weak  affiliation  with  a  "  half  Jew," 
a  born  enemy  of  Israel.  They  upbraided  Herod  for  the 
energy  that  he  had  shown  in  Galilee  in  repressing  the 
insurgents,  and  above  all  for  the  summary  execution  of 
their  leader  Hezekiah.  A  Jew,  they  said,  however  criminal, 
could  not  lawfully  be  put  to  death  unless  his  execution  had 
been  sanctioned  by  the  Sanhedrim. 

The  heads  of  the  party  in  Jerusalem  insisted  that  the  son 
of  Antipater  should  be  tried  for  this  offence,  and  Herod  by 
advice  of  his  father  consented  to  the  farce  of  a  prosecution. 
The  Council  was  overawed  by  his  presence.  He  did  not 
appear  before  them  with  dishevelled  hair,  and  in  mourn- 
ing garments ;  he  entered  the  assembly  with  his  black 
1  The  exact  spot  has  been  recently  discovered  in  Rome. 


212  JUDEA. 

locks  well  arranged,  and  glittering  in  armor.  No  accuser 
confronted  him.  Hyrcanus,  who  had  received  letters  from 
Sextus  Caesar,  proconsul  of  Syria,  charging  him  to  protect 
the  life  of  his  favorite,  sat  silent  and  embarrassed.  The 
matter  was  dropped.  The  only  voice  uplifted  was  that  of 
the  President  of  the  Council,  Shemaiah,  or  Shammai,  who 
foretold  that  the  day  would  come  when  his  colleagues 
would  pay  dear  for  their  weakness  on  this  occasion.  Herod 
was  not  offended  at  this  boldness,  but  endeavored  to  falsify 
the  prophecy  by  loading  Shemaiah  with  favors  when  he 
became  king,  though  all  his  life  he  nourished  feelings  of 
revenge  and  hatred  against  the  party  of  the  Pharisees. 

Neither  the  assassination  of  Caesar  nor  the  battle  of 
Philippi  greatly  influenced  what  was  passing  in  Judea. 
The  country  was  absorbed  in  petty  quarrels.  Antipater 
and  Herod  invariably  made  friends  with  whosoever  was  the 
conqueror,  and  thus,  whatever  the  turn  of  events  might  be, 
they  gained  increased  power  and  promotion.  But  suffering 
in  the  rural  districts  became  great,  as  the  war  between  the 
Roman  rivals  went  on.  Cassius  demanded  from  the  in- 
habitants of  Palestine  a  war  tribute  of  seven  hundred 
talents  ($700,000),  one  hundred  of  which  was  to  be  paid 
by  Galilee.  Herod  raised  this  part  of  the  contribution, 
but  returns  from  other  parts  of  the  country  came  slowly 
in.  Very  severe  measures  were  taken  in  consequence. 
Many  Jews  of  consideration  and  position  were  seized  and 
sold  as  slaves,  and  when  at  last  all  was  raised  except  one 
hundred  talents  Hyrcanus  implored  Antipater  to  pay  out 
of  his  own  resources  the  remaining  sum.  This  he  did, 
and  in  return  Cassius  appointed  his  son  Herod  propraetor 
of  Ccele-Syria,  and  promised  to  make  him  king  of  Syria 
when  he  should  have  triumphed  over  the  triumvirs,  Antony, 
Octavius,  and  Lepidus. 

Dean  Stanley  thus  describes  Herod  as  he  was  at  this 
time  :  "  Like  a  true  descendant  of  Esau,  he  was  '  a  man  of 
the  field,'  '  a  mighty  hunter.'  He  was  renowned  for  his 
horsemanship.  In  the  Arab  exercises  of  the  jereed,  or 
throwing  the  lance,  and  in  the  archery  of  the  ancient 


THE  RISE   OF  HEROD.  213 

Edomites  he  was  the  wonder  of  his  generation.  He  had  a 
splendid  presence.  His  fine  black  hair  on  which  he  prided 
himself,  and  which  when  it  turned  gray  was  dyed  to  keep 
up  the  appearance  of  youth,  was  magnificently  dressed. 
On  one  occasion,  when  he  sprang  out  of  a  bath  where 
assassins  had  surprised  him,  even  his  naked  figure  was  so 
majestic  that  they  fled  before  him.  Nor  was  he  destitute 
of  noble  qualities,  however  much  obscured  by  the  violence 
of  the  age,  and  by  the  furious,  almost  frenzied  cruelty 
which  despotic  power  breeds  in  Eastern  potentates.  There 
was  a  greatness  of  soul  in  him  which  might  have  raised 
him  above  the  petty  intrigues  by  which  he  was  surrounded. 
His  family  affections  were  deep  and  strong.  In  that  time 
of  the  general  dissolution  of  domestic  ties,  it  is  refreshing 
to  witness  the  almost  extravagant  tenderness  with  which  on 
the  plain  of  Sharon  he  founded,  in  the  fervor  of  his  filial 
love,  the  city  of  Antipatris.  To  the  citadel  above  Jericho 
he  gave  the  name  of  his  Arabian  mother,  Cypros ;  to  one 
of  the  towers  of  Jerusalem,  and  to  a  fortress  in  the  valley, 
which  still  retains  the  name,  looking  down  upon  the  Jor- 
dan, he  left  the  privilege  of  commemorating  his  beloved 
and  devoted  brother  Phasael.  In  the  lucid  intervals  of 
the  darker  days  which  beset  the  close  of  his  career,  nothing 
can  be  more  pathetic  than  his  remorse  for  his  domestic 
crimes ;  nothing  more  genuine  than  his  tears  of  affection 
for  his  grandchildren." 

About  the  year  43  B.C.  Antipater  died  of  poison.  The 
circumstances  of  his  death  were  never  made  clear ;  Jewish 
historians  hint  that  it  was  due  to  one  Malich,  a  friend  and 
confidant  of  Hyrcanus,  who  was  desirous  to  rid  his  patron 
from  what  he  considered  the  malign  influence  of  the 
Idumean. 

His  son  Herod  had  been  married  to  Doris,  a  Jewish  lady, 
who  had  borne  him  one  son,  whom  he  called  Antipater. 
He  now  aspired  to  an  alliance  with  the  Asmonean  royal 
family,  and  succeeded  in  being  betrothed  to  the  beautiful 
Mariamne,  the  granddaughter  of  Hyrcanus  the  high-priest. 
Her  parents  were  cousins.  Her  father,  Alexander  the  son 


214  JUDEA. 

of  Aristobulus,  had  married  Alexandra  the  daughter  of 
Hyrcanus,  so  that  she  was  descended  from  both  the  rival 
branches  of  the  Asmonean  family.  This  alliance  materially 
assisted  Herod's  fortunes,  but  in  the  end  it  led  to  the  most 
frightful  crimes. 

The  result  of  the  battle  of  Philippi  caused  Herod  once 
more  to  change  his  patrons.  He  became  as  devoted  to 
Octavius  and  Mark  Antony  as  he  had  been  to  Pompey  or  to 
Cassius.  After  the  victory  at  Philippi,  Antony  became  vir- 
tually Emperor  of  the  East ;  and  it  was  his  plan  to  set  up 
"  kings  "  (so-called)  in  the  various  provinces,  whose  chief 
duty  was  to  see  to  the  collections  of  the  taxes,  the  matter 
most  important  to  himself.  In  vain  complaints  were 
brought  to  him  against  Herod  and  Phasael.  The  great 
Roman  remained  their  fast  friend.  Hyrcanus  sent  an 
envoy  to  him  while  he  was  at  Ephesus,  entreating  him  to 
set  at  liberty  those  Jews  who  had  been  sold  into  slavery 
by  Cassius  for  their  inability  to  raise  his  war  tribute. 
Antony  complied  at  once,  taking  care  to  point  out  at  the 
same  time  the  difference  between  himself  and  Cassius. 
All  that  the  party  of  the  Pharisees  did  in  the  hope  that  they 
might  injure  Herod,  only  served  to  advance  his  fortunes. 
Antony  took  pleasure  in  responding  to  their  complaints  by 
giving  the  title  of  Tetrarch  to  Phasael  and  Herod,  and  by 
a  formal  decree  putting  them  in  charge  of  the  government 
of  Judea.  After  a  year  spent  in  dalliance  in  Egypt,  Antony 
returned  to  Italy,  and  divided  the  world  with  Octavius. 

He  created  many  petty  vassal  kings,  —  such  as  we  now 
know  in  the  East  by  the  name  of  khedives.  These 
"  kings "  (called  by  the  Romans  rcges}  were  much  de- 
spised by  the  Roman  people,  who  looked  upon  them,  not  as 
sovereigns,  but  as  farmers  of  taxes  in  the  provinces. 

The  Romans,  having  now  as  it  were  become  masters  of 
the  riches  of  the  Orient,  gave  themselves  up  to  a  venality 
unexampled  before  or  since,  unless  in  the  case  of  the 
Spanish  conquerors  in  Peru  and  Mexico.  They  thought 
only  of  riches.  The  gold  which  flowed  in  upon  them  pur- 
chased delights  of  which  they  had  never  dreamed.  Their 


THE  RISE   OF  HEROD.  21$ 

native  Italy  was  not  a  wealthy  land ;  life  there  was  not 
luxurious ;  but  the  riches,  luxuries,  and  pleasures  of  the 
Orient  changed  all  their  notions.  Antony,  above  others, 
seems  to  have  lost  his  reason.  His  daily  life  for  ten  years 
was  a  round  of  self-indulgence.  From  history  and  from 
Shakespeare  we  know  it  well. 

The  state  of  supineness  into  which  the  Romans  fell  in- 
spired Antigonus,  the  youngest  son  of  Aristobulus,  with  a 
desire  to  create  fresh  disturbances  in  Palestine.  He  hated 
the  Romans,  and  he  hated  Herod.  He  made  an  alliance 
with  the  Parthians,  whose  splendid  and  well  organized 
cavalry  had  more  than  once  been  able  to  make  head  against 
the  Roman  legions. 

Cassius  —  who  would  have  sacrificed  everything,  even 
the  glory  of  Rome,  for  the  success  of  his  favorite  re- 
publican principles  —  had,  before  he  fell  at  Philippi,  sent 
an  embassy  to  the  Parthians,  offering  to  form  an  alliance 
with  them  to  act  against  the  triumvirs.  The  king  of  Parthia 
responded  to  his  wishes,  and  sent  an  army  under  the 
command  of  his  son  into  Syria.  In  all  this,  Antigonus  did 
not  fail  to  seek  his  profit.  The  Jewish  party  had  adopted 
him  for  its  chief,  and  he  was  bitterly  opposed  to  the 
Idumeans.  Antigonus  offered  the  Parthian  prince  a  thou- 
sand talents  if  he  would  establish  him  on  his  late  father's 
throne,  and  put  to  death  Herod  and  all  his  kindred. 

As  the  Parthian  army  approached  Jerusalem,  Herod  and 
Phasael  were  nearly  overpowered  by  a  popular  rising. 
Phasael,  in  company  with  Hyrcanus  the  high-priest,  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  beyond  the  walls  of  the  city,  but  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Parthians.  Herod  escaped,  passed 
over  into  the  land  of  the  Nabatheans,  failed  to  induce  them 
to  espouse  his  cause,  and  then  sought  refuge  in  Egypt. 
There  he  saw  Cleopatra,  is  believed  to  have  repulsed  her 
love,  and  certainly  incurred  her  hatred.  Subsequently  he 
had  many  adventures,  and  at  last  safely  landed  in  Italy. 

Antigonus  installed  himself  royally  in  Jerusalem,  and 
assumed  the  Hebrew  name  of  his  great  ancestor  Mattathiah. 
The  Parthians  gave  Phasael  and  Hyrcanus  into  his  hands. 


2l6  JUDEA. 

Phasael  tried  to  kill  himself,  but,  not  succeeding  in  this 
attempt,  the  wounds  he  had  inflicted  were,  by  order  of 
Antigonus,  dressed,  it  is  said,  with  poisoned  salve. 

"  As  Antigonus-Mattathiah  proposed  to  exercise  the 
double  functions  of  high -priest  and  king,  he  caused  the  ears 
of  Hyrcanus  to  be  cut  off,  because  it  was  said  in  the  Law 
that  no  man  physically  imperfect  could  perform  the  high- 
priest's  functions.  He  then  sent  the  miserable  weak  old 
man  into  exile  in  Parthia. 

Antigonus-Mattathiah  reigned  in  Jerusalem  three  and  a 
half  years,  but  by  degrees  he  lost  the  support  of  his  allies, 
the  Parthians.  The  power  of  Rome  resided  in  the  Senate  ; 
it  kept  ever  in  view  one  object,  the  glory  of  the  parent 
State.  The  policy  of  the  Parthians  was  shifting,  and  was 
changed  by  circumstances. 

When  Herod  in  his  wanderings  at  last  reached  Rome, 
he  told  Antony  of  his  own  misfortunes  and  of  those  of  his 
country.  The  Senate  was  convoked,  and  the  Idumean 
prince  appeared  before  it.  He  had  done  great  services 
for  Rome  in  the  past,  and  more  was  expected  of  him  in 
the  future. 

Antigonus,  who  had  been  guilty  of  receiving  a  royal  title 
from  the  Parthians,  —  a  title  which  Rome  considered  she 
alone  had  the  right  to  confer,  —  was  declared  an  enemy  to 
the  Roman  Republic.  Antony  then  proposed  to  make 
Herod  King  of  the  Jews,  and  a  formal  decree  was  passed 
to  that  effect.  After  the  session  of  the  Senate  was  over, 
Herod,  walking  between  Octavius  and  Antony,  went  up  to 
the  Capitol  to  return  thanks  to  the  gods,  and  to  witness 
the  depositing  of  the  decree  given  in  his  favor  in  the 
tabularium  (40  B.  c.). 

This  decree  of  course  was  not  accepted  in  Judea. 
Herod  had  to  conquer  his  royalty  foot  by  foot.  Even 
torture  could  not  force  Jewish  prisoners  to  recognize  an 
Idumean  as  their  king. 

Ventidius,  the  Roman  general  who  had  been  sent  to  fight 
the  Parthians,  and  to  support  Herod,  was  gained  over  by 
Antigonus,  who  had  control  of  the  treasures  of  the  Temple. 


THE  RISE   OF  HEROD.  2I/ 

He  was  lukewarm  in  the  cause  of  King  Herod,  and  gave 
him  and  his  small  army  of  mercenaries  only  feeble  support ; 
nor  was  this  all ;  more  than  one  of  the  lieutenants  of  Ven- 
tidius  were  gained  over  by  the  gold  of  Antigonus.  Herod, 
after  displaying  much  warlike  ability,  decided  to  seek  an 
interview  with  Antony,  who  was  warring  with  Antiochus 
of  Commagene,  a  small  kingdom  on  the  shores  of  the 
Black  Sea.  He  wanted  to  complain  to  his  Roman  patron 
of  the  conduct  of  his  lieutenants,  and  to  convince  him  of 
the  importance  of  his  own  cause. 

In  Herod's  absence  all  went  ill  with  his  followers  in 
Judea.  One  of  his  brothers  was  killed  at  Jericho.  The 
Galileans  revolted,  and  drowned  in  the  Lake  of  Genne- 
sareth  the  officials  Herod  had  appointed  to  govern  them. 
During  the  next  winter  (38-37  B.C.)  Herod  pushed  on 
his  military  operations  with  vigor,  and  in  the  spring  laid 
siege  to  Jerusalem.  While  preliminary  works  were  going 
on  he  went  into  Samaria,  and  there  celebrated  his  nuptials 
with  Mariamne,  to  whom  he  had  been  betrothed  some 
years  before.  As  soon  as  the  ceremonies  were  concluded 
the  bridegroom  resumed  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  assisted 
by  a  large  Roman  force  under  a  new  general. 

At  last  the  various  defences  of  Jerusalem  were  taken, 
and  an  assault  was  made  upon  the  Temple.  The  Romans 
were  exasperated  by  the  length  of  the  siege,  and  the  stub- 
bornness of  the  Jews'  resistance,  and  slaughtered  without 
pity  all  they  found.  Herod  afterwards  insisted  that  he 
had  spared  no  entreaties  to  restrain  the  soldiers'  fury. 

Antigonus  came  forth  from  the  Tower  of  Baris  and  flung 
himself  at  the  feet  of  the  Roman  general,  but  that  per- 
sonage showed  him  little  generosity.  He  insulted  the 
suppliant,  loaded  him  with  chains,  and  sent  him  to  Antony, 
who  was  then  at  Antioch.  Herod,  who  was  resolved  upon 
his  rival's  death,  paid  Antony  a  large  sum  that  he  should 
be  scourged  and  then  beheaded.  It  was  the  first  time  that 
the  Romans  had  inflicted  this  punishment  upon  a  captive 
king- 
Pillage  and  massacre  after  the  assault  went  on  for  some 


2  1 8  JUDEA. 

days  in  Jerusalem.  They  were  only  stopped  when  Herod 
promised  the  Roman  general  to  pay  a  large  sum  out  of  his 
private  means  to  the  infuriated  legionaries.  He  was  espe- 
cially solicitous  that  the  Roman  soldiers  should  not  enter 
the  most  sacred  portions  of  the  Temple,  and  behold  those 
objects  which  even  the  Jews  were  forbidden  to  look  upon. 

Thus  the  authority  of  Herod  was  established,  and  there 
was  afterwards  no  general  revolt  of  the  Jews  against  Roman 
authority  for  about  one  hundred  years.  The  Book  of  Baruch 
in  the  Apocrypha  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  at  this 
period,  and  vividly  reflects  its  sorrows.  The  original  book 
ends,  however,  at  the  eighth  verse  of  the  third  chapter ; 
the  remainder  is  an  addition  written  in  Greek. 

There  are  other  Jewish  books  supposed  to  belong  to  this 
period  :  one  called  the  Psalms  of  Solomon,  another  the 
Assumption  of  Moses ;  but  these  have  not  been  admitted 
by  the  English  or  the  Latin  Church  even  into  the  Apoc- 
rypha. All  these  writings  breathe  the  most  bitter  feelings 
against  the  evil  priests  who  had  profaned  God's  service 
and  His  altar. 

While  Judea  was  thus  passing  from  degradation  to  degra- 
dation, events  were  taking  place  important  to  Jewish  his- 
tory in  the  outer  world.  "  Israel  was  spreading  itself  over 
the  earth,  bearing  with  it  its  quiet,  peaceable  domestic  life, 
its  moral  law,  its  steadfast  spirit,  its  worship  of  one  God, 
and  its  hope  of  immortality.  Jews  were  designed  to  serve 
as  leaven  in  the  moral  progress  of  every  country,  rather 
than  to  form  a  separate  nation.  The  Jew  and  the  Mussul- 
man are  not  wedded  to  any  particular  spot  upon  the  earth. 
The  Jew  of  the  Dispersion  fulfilled  his  mission  far  better 
than  the  Jews  in  Palestine,  who  were  always  trying  to  create 
a  national  government,  and  then  working  to  destroy  it. 
The  ground  occupied  by  Christianity  in  its  earlier  years 
was  in  lands  that  Judaism  had  already  permeated  before 
the  birth  of  Christ.  In  general,  the  successors  of  Alex- 
ander in  the  East,  down  to  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  were 
favorable  to  the  Jews.  They  made  use  of  them  to  colonize 
their  new  cities.  Honest,  industrious,  and  apt  in  small 


THE  RISE  OF  HEROD,  2 19 

employments,  these  transplanted  Jews  formed  an  excellent 
nucleus  for  a  middle  class  of  citizens.  Permanently  a 
nation  the  Jews  never  were  after  the  Return  from  Captivity, 
—  a  peasantry  they  were  never.  They  quickly  took  root 
in  any  country,  and  looked  upon  the  land  in  which  they 
were  born  as  their  fatherland.  Viewed  with  jealousy  and 
as  aliens  by  the  populations  round  them,  they  meddled 
little  with  questions  of  dynasty,  and  were  always  on  the 
side  of  the  strongest  party.  Fidelity  to  any  sovereign  who 
had  established  his  authority  was  one  of  the  things  on 
which  they  prided  themselves.  They  never  took  part  with 
revolutionists,  but  when  a  sovereign  had  fallen  they  pledged 
their  allegiance  to  his  successor."  1 

We  well  know  how  St.  Paul  found  synagogues  and  Jews 
in  every  city  that  he  visited  in  Europe,  Syria,  and  Asia 
Minor.  Strabo,  the  writer  who  knew  most  about  the  earth 
at  that  day,  said  of  them  :  "  They  have  entered  every  city, 
and  it  would  not  be  easy  to  find  a  spot  that  has  not  re- 
ceived their  tribe  and  been  dominated  by  it." 

But  anti-Semitism  is  not  a  product  of  our  own  day. 
The  Jews  were  never  popular  among  other  inhabitants  of 
the  Greek  cities,  and  the  Roman  authorities  were  kept  busy 
protecting  them  in  their  municipal  privileges. 

Rome  received  Judaism  later  than  lands  in  the  East  that 
were  peopled  by  the  Greeks.  The  powerful  institutions 
of  the  Republic  did  not  readily  admit  invading  faiths. 
The  first  proselytism  attempted  by  the  Jews  in  Rome 
seems  to  have  been  made  by  Asmonean  embassies.  In  the 
year  139  B.  c.  propagandism  was  severely  checked  by  the 
Roman  praetor.  The  Romans  called  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
Jupiter  Sabanius,  and  considered  Him  a  Phrygian  Deity. 

Pompey  brought  troops  of  captive  Jews  to  Rome  to  swell 
his  triumph.  Most  of  these  captives  were  soon  set  free,  for 
their  fidelity  to  their  religious  customs  made  their  service 
inconvenient  to  their  masters.  These  freedmen  formed  a 
settlement  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Tiber.  This  soon 
became  a  large  and  powerful  Jewish  community,  legally 

1  Cf.  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v.,  book  iii. 


22O  JUDEA. 

recognized,  having,  as  the  Jews  said,  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship. At  any  rate,  as  we  may  see  in  an  oration  of  Cicero, 
wherein  he  defended  Flaccus,  they  were  an  important 
factor  in  the  life  of  Rome.  Puteoli  was  the  landing-place 
for  the  crowd  of  Jews  and  Orientals  bound  to  the  metropolis, 
who  thence  reached  the  great  city  by  the  Appian  Way. 

The  Romans,  while  they  excluded  from  their  city  socie- 
ties whose  members  were  bound  together  by  their  common 
worship  of  some  national  god,  allowed  such  societies  to 
form  themselves  outside  the  city  into  what  were  called 
collegia.  Of  these  the  most  active,  and  the  most  powerful, 
was  that  which  clustered  round  the  Jewish  synagogue. 
Its  interior  organization  was  at  once  republican,  and  sub- 
ject to  the  elders.  Each  separate  synagogue  had  a  chief 
who  was  treated  with  deep  respect  as  the  father  of  all. 

Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus  were,  in  general,  opposed  to 
such  societies,  but  they  made  an  exception  in  favor  of  the 
Jews.  If  Josephus  is  to  be  believed,  the  Jews  in  Rome 
under  their  rule  enjoyed  exceptional  privileges.  Every 
year  the  collegium  sent  up,  by  an  envoy,  its  offerings  to  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  as  the  most  distant  cities  sent 
yearly  the  same  tribute,  —  a  band  of  priests,  lawyers,  and 
scribes,  who  had  no  other  occupation  than  the  study  and 
interpretation  of  the  Law,  was  formed  around  the  Temple, 
supported  by  the  gifts  of  out-lying  Jewish  communities 
throughout  the  world. 

Roman  tolerance  went  so  far  that  the  Jew  was  held  ex- 
empt from  military  service,  even  if  he  were  a  Roman 
citizen.  The  strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath  would  have 
been  enough  to  make  military  service  in  a  Gentile  army 
impossible  for  a  devout  Jew.  The  Roman  government 
indeed  recognized  their  obligations  on  the  Sabbath  to  a 
certain  extent.  It  was  admitted  that  a  Jew  could  not  be 
summoned  to  a  law-court  on  the  Sabbath  day ;  and  the 
monthly  distributions  of  corn  or  money  made  at  Rome, 
when  the  day  fell  upon  Saturday,  were  put  off  till  the  next 
day.  The  so-called  worship  of  the  emperor  roused  no 
opposition,  for  Augustus  showed  great  moderation  in  the 


THE  RISE   OF  HEROD.  221 

titles  he  accepted.  This  trouble  did  not  begin  until  the 
reign  of  Caligula. 

Provincial  cities,  jealous  of  the  Jews,  did  not  fail  to  com- 
plain that,  side  by  side  with  the  protection  of  the  laws  which 
they  enjoyed  in  common  with  other  men,  they  received 
and  retained  especial  legal  privileges.  Among  all  the  na- 
tions of  antiquity  the  citizen  was  bound  to  be  of  the  relig- 
ion of  his  city ;  the  Jews  alone,  by  the  exception  that  they 
claimed  (and  almost  everywhere  obtained)  broke  through 
this  old  law  of  the  world. 

Almost  every  Jew  dispersed  among  the  heathen,  parted 
from  the  Temple,  the  priesthood,  and  the  intolerable  bur- 
den of  traditional  observance  of  the  Law,  became  a  zealous 
propagandist.  He  felt  his  own  religious  superiority,  and 
he  rejoiced  in  gaining  over  to  his  faith  all  whom  he  thought 
he  might  influence.  The  Roman  world  was  thus  covered 
by  errant  missionaries,  whose  attention  to  their  own  per- 
sonal interests  never  interfered  with  their  ardor  to  effect 
conversions. 

This  spirit  of  propagandists,  while  it  excited  enmity 
among  the  populace,  inspired  thinking  minds  with  a  feeling 
that  the  wondrous  monotheistic  religion  of  the  Jews  pre- 
sented attractions  for  the  souls  of  men.  To  be  sure,  the 
falsest  prejudices,  the  most  absurd  reports,  spread  among 
the  populace,  and  formed  their  current  opinions  about  the 
Jews.  Sometimes  it  was  said  that  they  worshipped  Bacchus, 
sometimes,  as  we  have  seen,  an  ass's  head  ;  also  that  they 
had  sacred  rites  in  which  each  year  they  sacrificed  a  Greek ; 
while  cultivated  men  scoffed  at  the  notion  that  the  rude 
partisans  of  a  foreign  superstition  could  indulge  the  idea 
of  converting  to  their  faith  the  most  civilized  nations  of  the 
world. 

But  a  profound  change  was  taking  place  in  the  religious 
sentiments  of  men  at  that  period.  Greco-Latin  paganism 
was  becoming  insipid.  People  were  searching  in  all  di- 
rections for  something  that  might  satisfy  their  craving  to 
believe  and  love,  which  the  old  mythology  provided  for  no 
longer ;  and  it  was  towards  Eastern  mysticism,  and  Eastern 


222  JUDEA. 

fables,  that  souls,  restless  with  religious  fervor,  turned. 
The  worship  of  Isis,  Serapis,  and  Mithra,  which  grew  into 
favor  at  Rome,  especially  among  women,  had  something  in 
it  more  tender,  more  devout  than  the  Greek  and  Latin 
worships,  which  were  gross  and  carnal. 

Among  all  these  Oriental  religions  the  Jewish  displayed 
its  immense  superiority.  Not  Phariseeism,  as  enjoined  by 
the  priests  at  their  stronghold  in  Jerusalem,  but  Judaism,  as 
presented  by  the  prophets,  —  a  Judaism  broader,  less  rigid, 
less  absorbed  in  observances  of  ritual,  than  that  prevailing 
in  Jerusalem ;  a  Judaism  less  calculated  to  please  theologi- 
cal disputants  and  doctors,  but  more  communicative,  more 
accessible  than  that  which,  half  a  century  later,  was  de- 
nounced by  Jesus  Christ  in  the  very  courts  of  the  Temple. 

The  prophets  had  foretold  that  the  Jews  would  become 
a  missionary  people.  Their  lives  commended  their  religion. 
Their  self-discipline,  their  repose  in  the  service  of  their 
One  God,  the  Lord  Jehovah,  their  respect  for  the  Sabbath, 
and  their  observance  of  the  great  principles  of  morality  had 
an  important  influence  upon  their  pagan  associates.  There 
came  to  be  a  vast  number  of  friends  to  Judaism,  who  led 
the  Jewish  life  without  formally  making  themselves  Jews  by 
the  initiatory  rite  of  circumcision.  We  may  say  that  the 
splendid  career  of  St.  Paul  had  been  thus  prepared  for. 
Men  were  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the  one  thing 
needful  was  to  worship  the  Eternal  God  after  a  pure  man- 
ner, and  to  observe  those  precepts  of  natural  religion  which 
were  called  the  commandments  of  Noah.1 

While  Judaism  was  thus  imperceptibly  permeating  Greek 
and  Roman  life,  princes  in  the  East,  following  Herod's 
example,  made  themselves  Jews  that  they  might  contract 
alliances  with  the  Herodian  family ;  while  more  sincere 
conversions  took  place  in  the  royal  house  of  Adiabene, 
brought  about  by  a  Jewish  trader  named  Hananiah. 

But  we  return  to  Herod,  a  man  now  in  the  prime  of  life, 

1  For  these  observations  upon  Jewish  proselytism,  half  a  century 
before  the  Christian  era,  I  am  indebted  to  M.  Kenan's  "  History  of 
the  People  of  Israel." 


THE   RISE   OF  HEROD  223 

and  in  the  full  possession  of  power.  We  have  seen  what 
Dean  Stanley  said  of  him  when  his  youth  was  full  of  prom- 
ise, like  that  of  Nero,  Henry  VIII.,  or  Ivan  the  Terrible ; 
here  is  Kenan's  picture  of  him  at  a  more  advanced  age  : 

"  Herod  was  now  thirty-seven  years  of  age.  He  was 
fully  in  possession  of  his  kingdom,  but  numerous  enemies 
were  around  him.  .  .  .  Herod  was  a  splendid  Arab,  intel- 
ligent, skilful,  brave,  strong  of  body,  inured  to  fatigue, 
and  much  given  to  women.  Mehemet  AH  in  our  own  day 
gives  us  probably  his  measure  and  his  limit.  Capable  of 
anything  —  even  of  baseness  —  where  the  thing  in  hand 
was  to  attain  an  object  of  ambition,  he  had  a  real  feeling  of 
greatness ;  but  he  was  completely  out  of  tune  with  the 
country  he  had  to  govern.  He  dreamed  of  a  worldly 
future,  whereas  the  future  of  Israel  was  to  be  solely  relig- 
ious. No  higher  motive  seems  to  have  been  his.  Hard, 
cruel,  passionate,  and  inflexible  —  as  a  man  must  be  to 
succeed  among  evil  surroundings  —  in  everything  he  con- 
sidered his  own  interests  alone.  He  saw  the  world  as  it  is, 
and  being  of  a  coarse  nature  he  loved  it.  Religion,  philos- 
ophy, patriotism,  virtue,  had  no  meaning  for  him.  He  did 
not  like  the  Jews ;  possibly  he  had  a  little  regard  for  Idu- 
mea,  or,  more  probably,  for  Ascalon.  He  was,  in  short,  a 
fine  animal ;  a  lion  whom  one  admires  for  his  massive 
throat  and  his  thick  mane,  without  expecting  any  moral 
sense  from  him.  ...  In  the  end  nothing  was  left  of  him 
but  an  imposing  ruin,  and  a  frightful  tale.  He  hindered 
nothing,  —  he  effected  nothing.  His  life  was  just  the 
opposite  of  Christianity.  At  his  death  he  passed  into 
nothingness.  He  had  done  his  own  will,  —  not  the  will  of 
God  !  " 


CHAPTER  XV. 

HEROD   THE    KING. 

"\  ~\  THEN  Herod  returned  to  Jerusalem  as  its  king  every 
*  *  party  in  the  city  received  the  "  half-Jew "  with  ill 
will.  His  first  acts  of  sovereignty  were  ferocious  and  cruel. 
He  put  to  death  forty-five  leading  partisans  of  Antigonus- 
Mattathiah,  among  them  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim 
who  in  his  youth  had  summoned  him  to  appear  before 
them.  He  spared,  however,  their  leaders,  Shemaiah  and 
Abatalion.  His  soldiers  went  so  far  as  to  shake  the  dead 
bodies  of  their  victims,  that  pieces  of  gold  and  silver  might 
drop  out,  if  hidden  in  their  winding-sheets. 

At  heart  Herod  was  a  Hellenist  like  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
but  he  was  far  wiser  than  the  Syrian  sovereign.  He  never 
thought  of  suppressing  Judaism,  though  he  did  not  believe 
in  it,  —  nor  in  fact  in  any  religion.  He  made  many  con- 
cessions to  the  more  scrupulous  Jews,  but  looked  upon 
such  favors  as  a  sop  to  superstition.  On  none  of  the 
monuments  he  erected  in  Jerusalem  was  the  likeness  of 
any  living  thing,  whether  of  man  or  beast.  His  image  was 
not  stamped  upon  his  coins.  He  required  those  who  mar- 
ried his  daughters  to  be  circumcised.  The  Arab  chief  who 
wedded  his  sister  Salome  was  induced  by  him  to  embrace 
Judaism,  and  he  always  treated  with  high  consideration  the 
two  leaders  of  the  Pharisees,  Shemaiah  and  Pollio,  or 
Abatalion. 

When  he  was  beyond  the  bounds  of  Palestine  however, 
he  set  at  nought  the  observance  of  the  Law.  He  enriched 
Pagan  temples ;  his  associates  and  companions  were  all 
Hellenists,  and  his  mode  of  life,  even  when  he  resided  in 
Jerusalem,  was  entirely  Greek. 


HEROD    THE   KING.  22$ 

He  appointed  whomsoever  it  might  please  him  to  be 
high-priest.  Hananel,  whom  he  brought  from  Babylon  to 
fill  the  office,  he  deposed,  but  he  afterwards  reinstated 
him.  When  Hananel  died,  he  was  succeeded  by  an  obscure 
man,  Joshua  the  son  of  Phabi,  and  he  by  a  certain  Simon, 
son  of  Boethus,  an  Alexandrian  Jew,  whose  daughter  was 
considered  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  Jerusalem.  Herod, 
who  was  a  polygamist,  wanted  to  marry  her,  and  made  her 
father  high-priest  to  raise  her  family  nearer  to  his  own 
level.  Simon  and  his  kindred  were  avowedly  Hellenists 
and  Epicureans,  but  this  did  not  prevent  them  from  being 
successively  high-priests  during  the  latter  part  of  Herod's 
reign,  and  that  of  his  successor. 

Though  the  high-priests  of  his  appointment  were  Saddu- 
cees,  Herod  had  few  troublesome  misunderstandings  with 
the  other  party.  They  treated  him  better  on  the  whole 
than  they  had  done  their  national  sovereigns,  John  Hyrca- 
nus  and  Alexander  Jannaeus ;  they  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion "  that  there  were  two  worlds,  separated  as  it  were  by  a 
partition,  the  Jewish  Legal  world,  and  the  Court  world ;  " 
and  that  to  the  latter  the  Law  could  not  always  be  expected 
to  apply. 

Mariamne,  Herod's  Asmonean  wife,  united  both  branches 
of  her  illustrious  family. 

"This  last  of  the  Asmoneans,"  says  M.  Renan,  "is  the 
only  character  that  relieves  the  eye  of  the  historian  through 
so  many  horrors.  She  was  a  princess  of  rare  beauty, 
irreproachable  in  her  way  of  life,  imposing  in  her  aspect, 
proud  and  virtuous,  courageous  and  spirited ;  respecting 
her  name  and  birth,  but  creating  many  enemies,  especially 
in  her  husband's  family,  by  her  firm  and  decided  character. 
Herod  adored  her,  but  he  was  not  happy  with  her,  for  she 
did  little  to  win  his  favor.  Alexandra,  her  mother,  was  a 
bad  woman,  malevolent,  intriguing,  and  cowardly.  She 
never  relaxed  her  violent  opposition  to  her  son-in-law.  All 
Herod's  feminine  world  was  on  the  worst  terms  with  his 
mother  Cypros,  and  his  sister  Salome.  Quarrels  among 
them  were  incessant,  and  tragedies  it  was  easy  to  foresee." 

15 


226  JUDEA. 

Hyrcanus,  the  ex-high-priest,  still  a  prisoner  among  the 
Parthians,  was  very  desirous  of  returning  to  Jerusalem,  but 
the  loss  of  his  ears  prevented  his  restoration  to  the  high- 
priesthood.  In  vain  did  the  Jews  in  Babylon,  among 
whom  he  was  held  in  high  esteem,  warn  him  not  to  let 
himself  be  drawn  again  into  public  life  and  its  dangers, 
but  he  was  anxious  to  get  back  to  Jerusalem ;  his  return 
was  permitted,  and  he  was  cordially  received  by  the  new 
king.  Hananel,  the  Babylonian  Jew  on  whom  Herod  had 
conferred  the  pontifical  dignity,  claimed  on  his  mother's 
side  descent  from  the  House  of  David.  His  appointment 
highly  displeased  Alexandra  and  Mariamne,  who  thought 
the  office  ought  to  have  been  conferred  on  the  legitimate 
descendant  of  Hyrcanus,  his  grandson  Aristobulus,  last  of 
the  Asmoneans,  the  very  handsome  brother  of  the  beautiful 
Mariamne. 

What  gave  Alexandra  great  influence  at  the  court  of 
Herod  was  that  she  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Cleo- 
patra, who  could  do  anything  she  pleased  with  Roman 
Antony.  Herod  found  himself  compelled  to  satify  his  wife 
and  mother-in-law,  who  had  moved  Antony  to  request  the 
advancement  of  the  Asmonean  prince,  by  sending  portraits 
of  him  and  of  his  sister  to  Alexandria.  Hananel  was  de- 
prived of  his  authority  as  high-priest,  and  replaced  by 
Aristobulus  (35  B.C.).  But  the  young  man,  though  his 
beauty  and  grace  strongly  impressed  all  who  saw  him  exer- 
cise his  priestly  functions,  did  not  long  enjoy  his  honors. 
He  accompanied  the  court  to  Jericho,  then  a  little  paradise 
of  delights,  with  its  tropical  vegetation,  its  forest  of  palm 
trees,  the  fragrance  of  its  balsams,  and  its  beautiful  tanks 
of  clear  water,  in  which  the  young  men  of  the  royal  house- 
hold loved  to  bathe.  Herod  gave  private  orders  to  some 
of  the  foreign  soldiers  of  his  guard.  One  evening  as  these 
men,  with  the  young  high-priest,  were  frolicking  and  diving 
together  in  a  bathing  tank  they  seized  on  Aristobulus,  and, 
as  if  in  sport,  held  him  under  water  till  he  was  drowned. 
Then  Hananel  was  put  back  in  his  place. 

This  murder  it  was  hoped  would  pass  for  an  unhappy 


, 


MARK  ANTONY. 


HEROD    THE  KING.  227 

accident,  but  Alexandra  was  not  deceived.  She  sent  to 
Cleopatra,  begging  her  to  lay  the  matter  before  Antony, 
who  summoned  Herod  to  meet  him,  and  answer  to  the 
charge  of  having  instigated  the  destruction  of  his  brother- 
in-law.  Again  Herod's  wealth,  flatteries,  and  charming 
manners  saved  him ;  and  although  Cleopatra  urged  his 
ruin,  she,  for  once,  did  not  prevail  over  the  facile  Antony, 
who  seems  to  have  hinted  to  her  that  it  was  not  well  to 
look  too  curiously  into  the  acts  of  princes. 

Thenceforward  Herod  found  his  worst  enemy  in  Cleo- 
patra. He  had  resisted  her  fascinations  in  his  earlier  life  ; 
she  detested  him  accordingly,  —  and  besides,  she  coveted 
his  kingdom. 

In  the  year  34  B.  c.  Antony  gave  her  all  the  sea-coast  of 
Palestine  to  add  to  her  Egyptian  dominions,  and  the  beau- 
tiful valley  which  contained  the  city  of  Jericho.  Herod 
consented  to  part  with  these  portions  of  his  dominions  for 
two  hundred  talents  a  year.  How  cordially  Cleopatra 
hated  Herod,  Shakespeare  has  not  omitted  to  notice  in 
his  tragedy.1 

She  came  to  Jerusalem  this  same  year,  where  Herod  re- 
ceived her  with  great  apparent  cordiality,  and  many  honors. 
Josephus  thinks  that  it  was  at  this  time  that  she  tried  to 
make  him  fall  in  love  with  her,  for  at  that  period  of  his 
life  Herod  was  in  his  prime  of  manly  beauty ;  had  he  done 
so,  she  no  doubt  would  have  made  use  of  his  advances  to 
ruin  him  with  Antony ;  but  Herod  was  prudent.  For  one 
moment  he  thought  of  compassing  her  death  while  she  was 
in  his  power,  but  decided  that  it  would  be  better  to  over- 
whelm her  with  rich  presents,  and  conduct  her  with  honor 
back  to  her  Egyptian  frontier. 

Civil  war  broke  out  soon  after  this  between  Octavius  and 
Antony.  Herod  desired  to  assist  his  patron,  but  Cleopatra 
insisted  that  he  must  be  sent  to  fight  the  Nabathean  Arabs, 
who  were  menacing  her  new  possession  of  Jericho,  and  had 
not  been  punctual  in  paying  tribute.  Herod  was  conse- 
quently not  at  the  battle  of  Actium  (31  B.C.).  By  the 
1  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  act  iii.,  scene  3. 


228  JUDEA. 

result  of  that  battle  he  lost  in  Antony  a  powerful  friend, 
and  in  Cleopatra  his  worst  enemy. 

He  promptly  decided  to  go  and  meet  Octavius,  but 
before  leaving  Jerusalem  he  put  to  death  the  aged  priest 
Hyrcanus,  under  pretence  that  he  had  conspired  with  the 
King  of  the  Nabatheans,  but  in  reality  because  he  dreaded 
lest  in  his  absence  the  Jews  should  make  the  old  priest 
king.  Always  it  was  his  policy,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
infants  of  Bethlehem,  to  promptly  put  to  death  all  whom 
at  any  moment  he  found  reason  to  consider  dangerous  to 
his  power. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  the  year  30  B.  c.  that  Herod  saw 
Octavius  at  Rhodes.  When  he  appeared  before  the  Roman 
conqueror,  he  stripped  off  his  royal  ornaments,  and  ap- 
proached him  as  a  suppliant.  He  had  been  the  firm 
friend  of  Antony,  but  he  assured  Octavius  he  would  be 
equally  true  to  him.  Herod  in  this  was  quite  sincere.  He 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  be  always  on  the  side  of  the 
most  powerful  Roman.  Octavius  believed  him,  ordered 
him  to  reassume  his  royal  robes,  and  confirmed  him  in  all 
his  dignities. 

A  few  months  later  Herod  saw  Octavius  again,  and, 
having  in  the  meantime  rendered  him  important  services, 
he  gained  all  he  wanted.  Octavius  gave  him  back  Joppa, 
and  the  sea-coast  of  Palestine,  adding  to  it  several  impor- 
tant towns,  Gadara,  Samaria,  and  Gaza,  once  conquered  by 
the  Asmonean  princes,  but  rent  from  Judea  by  Pompey 
twenty  years  before. 

Herod  accompanied  his  new  patron  to  Antioch.  "  The 
year  that  to  all  appearances  should  have  led  to  his  fall  had 
been  fortunate  for  him.  He  had  exchanged  a  fantastic  pa- 
tron, who  could  not  but  come  to  a  bad  end,  ruled  as  he  was 
by  the  most  dangerous  woman  in  the  world,  for  a  far  more 
safe  protector  destined  like  himself  to  rule  for  many  years."  l 

But  Herod  was  not  long  to  rejoice  in  his  good  fortune. 
Flushed  with  delight  at  his  success  in  gaining  the  good-will 
of  Octavius,  he  reached  his  home  at  Jerusalem  anticipating 
1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v.,  book  iii. 


HEROD    THE   KING.  2  29 

the  cordial  greetings  and  congratulations  of  his  beloved 
Mariamne.  To  his  surprise  and  disappointment  she  re- 
ceived him  with  tears  and  reproaches.  She  accused  him 
of  the  murder  of  her  brother,  her  grandfather,  and  her 
other  kinsmen,  and  she  let  him  perceive  that  in  case  he 
never  returned  from  his  visit  to  Octavius,  she  knew  that  he 
had  given  orders  for  her  own.  Madly  as  he  adored  his 
beautiful  and  noble  wife,  it  appears  that,  without  actually 
repelling  his  affection,  she  had,  up  to  this  time,  felt  for 
him  fear  rather  than  love.  Irritated  to  madness  by  the 
way  she  had  received  him  in  his  hour  of  triumph,  he 
listened  at  last  to  his  wicked  sister  Salome,  who  had  long 
said  to  him  in  secret,  "  You  will  never  be  safe,  brother,  while 
she  lives."  Unhappily  the  political  intrigues  of  Alexandra 
made  the  conduct  of  her  daughter  matter  of  suspicion. 
The  mind  of  Herod  was  inflamed  against  her.  He  sum- 
moned a  meeting  of  his  councillors,  and  with  their  assent, 
condemned  to  death  the  woman  whom  he  loved.  Alexan- 
dra, her  mother,  fearing  for  herself,  insisted  that  she  did  not 
share  the  feelings  of  her  daughter.  As  Mariamne  was 
being  led  forth  to  execution  she  rushed  forward,  furiously 
flung  herself  on  her  unhappy  child,  struck  her  in  the  face, 
and  reproached  her  with  being  an  ungrateful  woman,  who 
was  about  to  suffer  only  what  she  had  deserved.  A  cry  of 
horror  rose  among  the  bystanders.  Mariamne  said  not  a 
word.  With  calmness  and  dignity  she  met  her  fate.  She 
did  not  even  cast  a  look  of  reproach  on  her  unnatural 
mother. 

Herod,  on  this  occasion,  had  displayed  the  brutal  in- 
stincts of  a  savage  Arab,  but  after  his  sentence  had  been 
carried  out,  his  passionate  love  for  his  wife  returned.  He 
became  a  victim  to  mad  paroxysms  of  remorse.  He  fan- 
cied he  saw  before  him  the  woman  he  adored  and  whom 
he  had  murdered.  "  The  ghosts  of  princes  he  had  put  to 
death,"  says  Josephus,  "  wandered  through  every  chamber 
in  his  palace,  threatening  him  with  the  Last  Judgment." 
Well  might  he  have  exclaimed  in  the  words  put  into  his 
mouth  by  a  poet  of  the  nineteenth  century  :  — 


23O  JUDEA. 

"  And  I  have  earned  those  tortures  well, 
Which  unconsumed  are  still  consuming."1 

He  spoke  to  his  lost  wife.  He  called  for  her,  gave  orders 
to  send  for  her.  To  distract  his  thoughts  he  plunged  into 
nameless  excesses;  he  hunted  frantically,  and  rode  furi- 
ously. At  Samaria,  a  place  which  revived  memories  of  the 
first  days  of  his  married  life,  —  his  honeymoon  with  his 
adored  and  murdered  Mariamne,  —  he  almost  died  of  re- 
excited  passion.  A  rumor  of  his  death  reached  Jerusalem, 
and  Alexandra  was  preparing  to  take  advantage  of  it,  when 
she  was  seized  and  put  to  death.  She  had  lived  long  enough 
to  witness  the  violent  and  disgraceful  deaths  of  her  father- 
in-law  Aristobulus  II.,  her  husband  Alexander,  her  brother- 
in-law  Antigonus,  her  son  Aristobulus  III.,  her  father 
Hyrcanus,  and  her  daughter  Mariamne. 

Herod  recovered,  but  he  was  ever  after  subject  to  a 
strange  irritation,  physical  and  mental.  On  the  smallest 
pretext  he  would  send  his  servants  and  his  best  friends 
to  the  torture  chamber  or  the  scaffold.  "  All  Oriental 
despots,"  adds  M.  Renan,  "  follow,  like  a  machine  once 
started,  the  same  downward  road." 

While  any  remnant  of  the  Asmonean  family  survived, 
there  was  no  peace  for  Herod.  A  family  called  the  Sons 
of  Baba,  akin  to  the  Maccabees,  had  signalized  itself  by 
attachment  to  its  national  sovereigns.  In  their  moment  of 
danger  an  Idumean  chief  called  Costobarus  saved  them, 
and  Herod  for  twelve  years,  in  spite  of  his  spies,  had  not 
been  able  to  discover  them.  Costobarus,  meantime,  be- 
came Herod's  brother-in-law,  having  married  his  sister 
Salome.  When  she  grew  tired  of  her  husband  she  be- 
trayed his  secrets  to  Herod,  who  at  once  put  to  death 
Costobarus  and  the  Sons  of  Baba. 

No  direct  descendant  of  the  Asmonean  House  remained 
to  oppose,  as  the  Jews  said,  Herod's  "  violations  of  the 
Law."  He  had  triumphed  over  his  enemies,  the  sun  of 
the  brave  Maccabees  had  set  in  blood,  and  he  passed  on 

1  Lord  Byron's  "  Hebrew  Melodies." 


HEROD    THE  KING.  231 

to  a  period  distinguished  by  his  lavish  patronage  of  archi- 
tecture and  sculpture. 

At  all  times  Herod's  life  had  been  in  opposition  to  the 
moral  law,  and  now,  strong  in  power  and  prosperity,  he 
proposed  to  gather  in  the  fruits  of  his  crimes.  He  re- 
sembled not  a  little  one  of  those  enlightened  khedives, 
rulers  of  Egypt  in  our  own  century,  —  princes  who  set  up 
the  Opera  at  Cairo,  who  patronize  what  is  abhorrent  and 
unintelligible  to  their  subjects  and  forbidden  by  the  religion 
of  the  State, — but  who  silence  the  murmurs  of  their 
orthodox  subjects,  because  they  feel  themselves  to  be 
backed  by  the  public  sentiment  of  Europe  and  by  their 
hold  on  the  resources  of  their  country.1 

Almost  all  the  Eastern  provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire  in- 
stituted at  this  time  public  games,  to  be  given  every  five  years 
in  honor  of  the  Emperor  Augustus.  Herod  was  not  behind 
other  princes  in  this  movement.  To  celebrate  the  games 
he  erected  a  theatre,  an  amphitheatre,  and  a  hippodrome.; 
and  these,  to  the  disgust  of  pious  Jews,  he  set  up 
in  Jerusalem.  There  were  no  statues  in  these  places,  but 
among  their  decorations  he  placed  "  trophies,"  —  that  is, 
the  helmet  and  panoply  of  a  Roman  warrior,  —  so  disposed 
as  to  bear  some  resemblance  to  the  human  form.  These 
excited  unfriendly  comments  among  the  Jews,  and  Herod 
felt  himself  obliged  to  go  in  person  to  the  theatre,  take 
down  his  trophies,  and  show  to  the  most  obstinate  Pharisees 
that  they  consisted  only  of  wooden  logs  dressed  up  for  the 
occasion.  And  here  M.  Renan  calls  our  attention  to  the  fact 
that  these  ignorant  fanatics,  in  their  abhorrence  of  Herod's 
public  games,  were  in  advance  of  the  average  moral  senti- 
timent  of  their  time.  The  games  were  splendid ;  they 
were  attended  by  crowds.  Nothing  had  been  seen  equal 
to  the  beauty  of  the  costumes  or  the  brilliant  effect  of  the 
athletes,  or  the  musicians.  There  were  also  combats  with 
wild  animals,  in  which  wretches  under  sentence  of  death 
were  exposed  to  the  teeth  of  ferocious  beasts.  Wild 
animals  were  rare  and  costly ;  but  what,  elsewhere,  excited 
1  Cf.  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v. 


232  JUDEA. 

the  admiration  of  spectators,  was  beheld  with  indignation 
in  Jerusalem.  The  Pharisees  protested.  They  thought  it 
horrible  that  people  should  find  pleasure  in  the  peril  run 
by  wretched  human  beings.  All  their  old  manners  and 
customs  seemed  to  them  overthrown,  but  they  had  no 
longer  power  to  resist ;  the  faintest  murmur  was  punished 
with  death.1 

The  worship  of  Augustus  as  a  god  spread  to  all  the 
provinces,  though  it  was  not  officially  sanctioned  by  the 
emperor.  Temples  were  everywhere  erected  in  his  honor. 
Herod  built  them  in  Stratonis,  now  called  Csesarea,  in 
Panium,  Sebaste  (or  Samaria),  and  Batanea,  all  Roman 
cities  in  Palestine.  His  temples  were  accounted  some  of 
the  most  beautiful  erected  in  that  age,  but  he  dared  not 
build  one  in  Jerusalem.  He,  however,  built  himself  in  that 
city  a  palace  which  was  esteemed  a  marvel  of  magnificence. 
He  would  adorn  it  with  neither  painting  nor  sculptures, 
but  he  beautified  it  with  exquisite  coloring,  and  with  the 
lace-like  marble  work  still  seen  in  the  palaces  of  Indian 
Mohammedan  kings  and  in  the  Alhambra.  His  parks, 
too,  and  his  pleasure  grounds  at  Jericho  and  Herodium 
were  delightful.  He  added  three  towers  of  immense  strength 
to  the  fortifications  of  Jerusalem.  One  he  called  Phasael, 
in  memory  of  his  beloved  brother,  another  Mariamne,  after 
his  murdered  and  lamented  wife,  and  the  other  was 
Hippicus,  named  after  a  favorite,  whose  history  is  now 
unknown.  He  also  strengthened  and  adorned  the  Baris, 
which,  though  divided  from  the  Holy  Mount  by  a  deep 
ravine,  overlooked  the  courts  of  the  Temple,  and  in  honor 
of  Mark  Anthony  he  called  it  Antonia.  In  Jericho,  where 
he  often  resided,  he  built  a  theatre,  circus,  and  hippodrome, 
as  he  had  done  in  Jerusalem.  Beyond  Palestine  he  erected 
beautiful  buildings,  in  whose  construction  he  was  not  ham- 
pered by  Jewish  prejudices  and  restrictions.  At  Rhodes 
he  built  a  temple  to  the  Pythian  Apollo;  Athens  and 
Sparta  shared  in  his  generosity,  and  in  his  enthusiasm  for 

1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v.,  book  iii.,  chap- 
ter vi. 


HEROD    THE  KING.  233 

monumental  decorations.  He  created  a  permanent  fund 
for  giving  prizes  at  the  Olympian  Games,  and  the  Corinth- 
ians conferred  on  him  the  title  of  their  perpetual  President. 
One  wonders  if  money  out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  Temple 
was  expended  for  these  pagan  purposes. 

He  made  a  splendid  port  at  Caesarea,  and  adorned  the 
city  with  a  magnificent  temple  dedicated  to  Rome  and  to 
Augustus  Caesar.  Three  of  its  columns  were,  in  the  middle 
ages,  brought  to  Venice ;  two  of  them  now  adorn  the 
piazzctta,  the  third  is  buried  in  the  slime  of  the  Grand 
Canal,  beside  the  place  of  disembarkation  for  the  gondolas. 
The  temple  at  Caesarea  was  inaugurated  with  games,  and  with 
extraordinary  pomp,  ten  years  before  our  Christian  era. 
Other  persons  whose  memory  was  dear  to  Herod  had 
cities  which  he  embellished  named  after  them.  Four 
great  fortresses  were  put  in  excellent  repair.  One  of  them, 
Machaerus,  was  a  wonder  of  construction.  It  rose,  seem- 
ingly in  defiance  of  nature,  with  chambers  of  marvellous 
beauty,  beneath  which  were  dungeons,  and  inexhaustible 
cisterns  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  "  There  was  a  wonderful 
view  from  the  top  of  its  towers.  To  the  south  could  be 
seen  the  outlines  of  the  Dead  Sea,  with  Engaddi  and 
Hebron ;  to  the  northwest  of  these,  the  hills  of  Judea 
with  Jerusalem  could  be  distinguished,  with  the  Palace  of 
Herod,  and  the  Temple,  overlooked  by  the  enormous 
Tower  of  Antonia.  To  the  right  lay  Jericho  with  its  ever- 
green forest  of  palm  trees ;  then  the  blue  grey  Jordan 
could  be  seen  threading  the  plain."  1 

But  this  fortress  had  not  been  erected  for  the  beauty  of 
its  distant  prospect ;  it  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  wild  and 
dreary  region,  on  the  borders  of  the  Arabian  desert,  —  a 
challenge  to  the  wild  and  restless  tribes. 

Other  works  did  honor  to  Herod's  talent  for  government. 
He  put  down  brigandage,  he  encouraged  commerce,  he 
even  sent  at  his  own  expense  five  hundred  of  his  subjects 
to  assist  a  scientific  expedition  fitted  out  to  explore  Arabia. 

1  "Palestine  in  the  time  of  Christ,"  by  Dr.  Edmond  Stapfer,  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Protestant  Theological  Faculty  of  Paris. 


234  JUDEA. 

Soon,  however,  he  became  again  involved  in  domestic 
troubles,  and  the  wild  beast  nature  that  was  in  him  re- 
asserted itself. 

His  two  sons  by  Mariamne,  Alexander  and  Aristobulus, 
had  been  receiving  their  education  in  Rome.  They  resided 
in  the  house  of  Asinius  Pollio,  the  friend  of  Virgil,  where 
doubtless  they  often  met  the  great  poets  of  the  day.  Their 
father  liked  to  see  literary  men  about  him,  and  was  espe- 
cially fond  of  Greek  philosophy.  At  his  court  Nicolaus  of 
Damascus,  his  secretary,  was  highly  esteemed.  Nicolaus 
was  a  vain  man,  but  he  had  a  large  fund  of  learning.  He 
was  a  native  of  Damascus,  and  deeply  versed  in  Peripatetic 
philosophy.  He  attached  himself  to  Herod,  and  became 
one  of  his  chief  counsellors.  Herod  had  received  in  early 
life  no  Greek  education,  but  in  his  later  years  he  desired 
to  repair  this  want,  and  Nicolaus  taught  him  Greek  phi- 
losophy, rhetoric,  and  history.  At  one  time  the  learned 
secretary  travelled  to  Italy  with  his  patron,  and  their 
leisure  time  upon  the  voyage  was  employed  in  learned 
discourse,  and  in  instruction  in  philosophy. 

Nicolaus  wrote  a  "  Universal  History  "  in  one  hundred  and 
forty-two  books,1  in  days  when  it  would  seem  to  us  that 
there  could  be  little  universal  history  to  write  about.  In 
it,  however,  the  history  of  his  own  times  was  treated  very 
fully,  and  his  work  is  largely  quoted  by  Josephus.  What 
he  tells  us  about  Herod  was  no  doubt  as  autobiographical 
as  if  it  had  been  written  by  Herod's  pen. 

Herod's  relations  with  Rome  continued  to  be  excellent. 
He  long  preserved  the  good  graces  of  Augustus.  But  sub- 
kings,  when  they  visited  the  emperor's  court,  found  their 
position  far  from  an  agreeable  one.  "  In  Rome,  stripped 
of  their  crowns  and  royal  purple,  they  took  rank  with 
simple  clients  of  the  emperor.  They  might  be  seen  clad 
in  the  Roman  toga  waiting  on  the  Caesar,  and  vying  with 
each  other  in  performing  the  lowest  offices.  Men  of  good 
social  or  political  standing  in  Rome  had  no  esteem  what- 
ever for  these  'kings.'  ...  In  their  own  dominions,  on 
1  Now  lost. 


HEROD    THE  KING.  235 

the  contrary,  they  were  despots;  they  had  power  of  life 
and  death  over  their  subjects,  and  Rome,  satisfied  with  her 
supremacy,  rarely  meddled  in  their  home  affairs.  Their 
power  was  not  necessarily  hereditary.  To  make  it  so  they 
were  obliged  to  propitiate  the  supreme  power."  1 

Notwithstanding  the  tediousness  and  danger  of  travelling 
in  those  days,  personages  of  importance  went  about  the 
world  a  great  deal  more  than  we  might  imagine  possible. 
When  Herod  went  to  Rome  attended  by  Nicolaus  of 
Damascus,  it  was  to  recover  his  two  sons,  Alexander  and 
Aristobulus ;  and  in  an  evil  hour  Augustus  consented 
that  he  should  take  them  home  with  him.  Their  brilliant 
education  and  their  noble  bearing  made  them,  when 
they  returned  to  Palestine,  great  favorites  with  the  Jewish 
people,  who  remembered  that,  through  their  mother,  they 
were  the  last  scions  of  the  royal  Asmonean  race.  This 
awakened  their  father's  jealousy,  and  in  the  end  led  to 
their  destruction. 

In  the  glory  of  Herod's  reign,  and  in  the  splendor  of  his 
buildings,  devout  Jews  persisted  in  seeing  nothing  but  the 
burdens  that  his  rule  laid  on  his  people.  In  the  words  of 
the  Book  of  Enoch  "  many  cried  out :  Woe  to  him  who 
buildeth  his  house  with  the  sweat  of  his  brethren ;  all  the 
stones  in  his  unholy  buildings  are  so  many  sins."  But  all 
complaints  were  repressed  with  extreme  severity.  The 
towers  were  crowded  with  prisoners,  who,  after  a  short 
detention  were  put  to  death.  A  pitiless  police,  numerous 
spies,  and  a  large  body  of  foreign  soldiers,  kept  down 
conspiracy,  repressed  murmuring,  and  preserved  order  in 
the  city. 

In  the  year  19  B.C.  Herod  conceived  the  idea  of  acquir- 
ing popularity  among  his  subjects  by  a  work  which  could 
not  fail  to  propitiate  them.  The  Temple,  as  it  had  been 
rebuilt  by  Zerubbabel,  had  stood  five  hundred  years,  and 
probably  looked  mean  beside  the  marble  palace  Herod  had 
built  for  his  own  use  upon  the  Hill  of  Zion.  Spurred  on  by 
his  taste  for  constructing  fine  buildings,  he  conceived  the 
1  Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  v.  book  iii. 


236  JUDEA. 

project  of  rebuilding  the  Temple  on  a  scale  of  lavish 
magnificence. 

At  first  the  Jews  were  horrified  when  he  proposed  so 
costly  a  work,  but  Herod  reassured  them  by  promising  that 
not  a  stone  of  the  old  Temple  should  be  touched  until 
materials  for  rebuilding  it  lay  ready  at  hand,  and  until  they 
could  assure  themselves  that  if  he  began  the  work  he  had 
money  enough  to  finish  it.  The  high-priest  at  that  time 
was  Simon  the  son  of  Boethus,  a  creature  of  Herod.  He, 
however,  took  no  part  in  the  matter. 

The  work  was  begun  in  the  year  19  B.C.  In  eight  years 
the  essential  parts  of  the  building  were  completed,  but  the 
porches  were  not  entirely  finished  until  A.D.  63,  on  the 
eve  of  the  great  revolt  and  its  total  destruction.  When 
Jesus  walked  in  its  porches  and  courts  with  his  disciples, 
many  things  around  the  Sanctuary  were  in  a  provisional 
state. 

Not  only  did  Herod  make  no  use  of  any  part  of  the  old 
Temple,  but  he  destroyed  its  foundations,  and  doubled  the 
size  of  the  platform  upon  which  its  courts  and  porches 
stood.  Embankments  carried  the  rectangular  space,  on 
which  the  Temple  itself  and  its  surroundings  were  erected, 
to  an  immense  height  above  the  valleys  beneath.  We  know 
this  from  the  narrative  of  the  Temptation,  as  recorded  by 
St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke,  and  Josephus  tells  us  "  it  made 
one  giddy  to  look  down."  The  great  cloister  with  four 
rows  of  columns,  called  Solomon's  Porch,1  which  looked 
down  on  the  Valley  of  the  Kedron,  was  a  real  marvel.  It 
was  entered  by  subterranean  stairways,  so  as  to  make  no 
breach  in  the  wall  or  colonnade.  All  the  arrangements  of 
the  Temple  of  Zerubbabel,  founded  on  those  of  the  Temple 
of  Solomon,  which  had  reproduced  those  of  the  ancient 
Tabernacle,  were  followed  minutely,  but  on  a  grander  scale. 
The  Altar  of  Sacrifice  in  the  inner  court  was  rebuilt  on  the 

1  The  word  "  porch,"  such  as  we  understand  it,  conveys  no  idea 
of  the  porches  of  the  Temple.  They  were  vast  colonnades  that 
surrounded  the  courts,  not  covered  entrances  to  any  part  of  the 
building. 


HEROD    THE  KING.  237 

same  model.  The  materials  of  the  structure  were  superb. 
The  stones  were  for  the  most  part  quarried  from  the  subsoil 
of  Jerusalem.  Blocks  may  still  be  seen  twenty  to  thirty-six  feet 
in  length.  The  ceilings  of  the  porches  were  of  carved  and 
painted  wood.  The  monolithic  columns  were  forty  feet  high 
and  six  feet  in  diameter.  A  subterranean  passage  enabled 
the  king  to  pass  unseen  from  the  castle  of  Antonia  to  the 
eastern  gate  of  the  Temple,  and  a  turret  in  the  Temple 
court  was  constructed  in  which  when  he  attended  public 
worship  he  might  be  safe  from  any  insults  offered  by  the 
crowd. 

The  courts  reserved  for  the  priests,  Jewish  laymen, 
women,  and  Gentile  proselytes,  were  strictly  separated. 
The  heathen  proselytes  were  excluded  from  all  courts  but 
the  one  assigned  them  by  haughty  inscriptions,  which  must 
have  met  the  eye  of  Him  whose  own  Church  was  to  be 
thrown  open  to  all. 

Herod  had  taken  great  care  to  offend  no  Jewish  preju- 
dices in  his  work  of  re-construction.  Priests  presided  over 
the  mason-work  and  carpentry,  and  the  "  Holy  Place  "  and 
the  "  Holy  of  Holies  "  were  constructed  by  priests  alone. 
The  pious  Jews  showed  themselves  well  satisfied,  and  did 
not  stint  the  expression  of  their  admiration.  For  once 
Herod  enjoyed  a  moment  of  popularity  in  Judea,  which 
must  have  been  a  novelty  to  him. 

But  although  his  flatterers  called  him  the  new  Solomon, 
though  his  riches  were  great,  his  power  uncontested,  and 
his  delights  many,  Herod  with  all  his  care  could  not  escape 
the  humiliations  that  attend  sickness  and  old  age.  In  vain 
he  dyed  his  once  beautiful  black  hair,  in  vain  he  took  every 
precaution  against  death.  His  life  had  been  a  series  of 
cares ;  of  what  avail  had  it  been  to  him  to  labor,  and  to 
have  all  end  in  nothingness? 

Herod  had  been  married  ten  times.  We  know  of  at 
least  fifteen  of  his  children.  The  Asmonean  princes  seem 
to  have  had  only  one  wife,  but  Herod,  like  all  Eastern 
potentates,  indulged  in  polygamy.  We  have  seen  the 
result  of  his  marriage  with  the  Asmonean  princess  Mari- 


238  JUDEA. 

amne ;  twelve  years  later  the  same  history  of  fury,  crime, 
and  remorse  occurred  again. 

Alexander  and  Aristobulus,  when  they  returned  from 
Rome,  became  very  popular  in  Jerusalem.  They  were 
thought  to  show  princely  dignity  and  to  have  a  truly  royal 
air.  Men  remembered  their  mother,  and  the  noble 
founders  of  their  house,  who  had  been  true  Jews,  and 
legitimate  national  sovereigns.  Unhappily,  a  party  soon 
formed  around  the  princes.  Herod's  suspicions  were 
aroused  by  Salome.  The  young  men  were  calumniated, 
and  possibly  they  were  not  beyond  reproach.  It  was  re- 
ported to  Herod  that  they  thought  of  avenging  their  mur- 
dered mother,  and  very  probably  such  an  idea  may  have 
entered  their  minds.  It  was  said  that  when  they  saw  their 
father's  wives  wearing  dresses  and  ornaments  that  had  be- 
longed to  Mariamne,  they  grew  angry,  and  threatened  that 
those  fine  robes  should  some  day  be  torn  off  from  them, 
and  that  they  would  walk  in  sackcloth. 

Herod's  jealous  temper  was  aroused.  He  grew  suspi- 
cious ;  but  at  first  he  dissembled.  He  was  proud  of  the 
young  men,  and  sought  for  them  brilliant  alliances.  He 
married  Aristobulus  to  his  cousin  Berenice,  the  daughter  of 
Salome,  and  Alexander  to  Glaphyra,  the  daughter  of  Arche- 
laus,  King  of  Cappadocia.  These  marriages  made  the 
princes  more  and  more  imprudent.  To  lower  their  pride 
their  father  gave  an  important  post  to  Antipater,  his  son  by 
Doris,  his  first  wife,  who  had,  until  then,  been  kept  in  se- 
clusion. He  also  openly  announced  his  purpose  of  leaving 
Antipater  at  least  part  of  his  dominions,  and  presented 
him  to  Augustus  as  the  son  whom  he  designed  for  his 
successor. 

In  the  year  12  B.C.,  the  old  king  took  a  decisive  step. 
He  went  to  Italy,  carrying  with  him  Alexander  and  Aris- 
tobulus that  he  might  accuse  them  before  the  emperor. 
They  found  Augustus  at  Aquileia.  The  emperor  showed 
on  this  occasion  much  good  feeling  and  tact.  At  a  sign 
from  him  the  young  men  fell  at  the  feet  of  their  father,  who 
opened  his  arms  to  them.  Antipater,  who  was  present, 


HEROD    THE  KING.  239 

affected  to  share  the  general  emotion.  Then  Herod  gave 
three  hundred  talents  towards  the  expenses  attending  the 
inauguration  of  a  theatre  erected  in  memory  of  Marcellus, 
the  emperor's  promising  young  grandson.  After  which  he 
returned  to  Judea,  where  court  intrigues  began  again  more 
venomous  than  ever.  Torture  each  day  was  inflicted  at 
haphazard  on  unhappy  wretches,  upon  mere  suspicion,  and 
its  victims  almost  always  died  under  it  with  shrieks  of  agony. 

Herod  at  some  moments  was  undoubtedly  insane.  He 
groaned  and  howled  continually  in  his  sleep.  He  was  un- 
able to  rest  day  or  night,  and  was  afflicted  with  a  terrible 
cutaneous  disorder.  During  the  cross-fire  of  tale-bearing 
and  intriguing  in  the  palace,  Simon,  the  son  of  Boethus 
was  deprived  of  his  high-priesthood,  and  replaced  by  a 
man  named  Matthias,  the  son  of  Theophilus,  who  by  mar- 
riage belonged  to  the  family  of  Boethus. 

If  Herod  did  not  at  once  inflict  death  on  the  sons  of 
Mariamne,  it  was  because  of  the  opposing  influence  of  two 
great  personages,  the  Emperor  Augustus,  and  Archelaus 
King  of  Cappadocia ;  both  of  whom  took  a  personal  in- 
terest in  the  young  men.  But  after  a  time  it  came  to  pass 
that  misunderstandings  arose  between  Herod  and  Augustus, 
to  compose  which  the  emperor  found  it  necessary  to  make 
concessions.  He  agreed  that  Herod  should  hold  at  Berytus 
(Beyrout)  a  court  to  try  his  sons  for  treason.  This  court 
was  composed  of  members  of  the  family  of  the  king,  and 
high  functionaries  of  the  province.  It  had  one  hundred 
and  fifty  members,  and  it  granted  Herod  power  to  deal  as 
he  pleased  with  his  sons.  The  Roman  officers  in  the 
Assembly  opposed  the  servile  attitude  of  the  majority, 
and  considered  the  power  granted  to  the  king  excessive. 
Nicolaus  of  Damascus  pleaded  for  clemency,  but  the  infu- 
riated old  tyrant  had  won  the  right  to  work  his  will. 
Nothing  impels  to  cruelty  like  fear.  Herod  feared  the 
popularity  of  his  two  brilliant  sons,  and  the  young  men 
were  strangled  at  Sebaste  (Samaria)  in  the  year  7  B.C. 

Then  Herod  was  sorely  perplexed  by  doubts  as  to  whom 
he  should  name  as  his  successor.  Antipater  had  failed  to 


240  JUDEA. 

please  him.  His  enemies  (and  doubtless  he  had  many  in 
his  father's  household)  whispered  in  the  ear  of  the  old  king 
that  he  had  been  heard  to  say  that  his  father  lived  too  long. 
The  complete  absence  of  natural  affection  which  character- 
ized that  court  brought  things  to  such  a  pass  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  any  one  to  feel  sure  of  safety ;  everybody  tried 
to  exterminate  whomsoever  he  considered  a  rival. 

In  vain  Augustus  and  high  Roman  officials  tried  to  in- 
fuse a  little  reason  into  this  world  of  intrigue  and  revenge. 
At  one  time  Herod  thought  of  putting  to  death  his  sister 
Salome,  the  prime  mover  in  all  the  domestic  wickedness  of 
his  reign.  Antipater  too  was  loaded  with  chains  and  his 
execution  was  resolved  upon. 

While  this  went  on  Herod  became  very  ill.  He  felt  that 
he  must  die.  Then  he  became  a  prey  to  contending  furies. 
Every  day  he  altered  his  will,  as  contrary  suspicions  suc- 
ceeded each  other.  In  general  his  favor  rather  inclined 
towards  the  children  he  had  had  by  Malthace,  a  Samaritan 
woman.  At  one  moment  he  was  disposed  to  name  Anti- 
pas,  his  youngest  son,  as  his  successor.  Then  his  mind 
changed.  It  was  dangerous  to  approach  him.  What  irri- 
tated the  dying  monarch  most  of  all  was  to  think  that  his 
subjects  desired  his  death. 

It  may  have  been  about  this  time  that  he  ordered  the 
massacre  of  the  babes  at  Bethlehem,  for  the  chronologists 
who  adopted  the  birth  of  Christ  as  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era  were  not  exact,  and  our  system  of  Christian 
chronology  was  not  fixed  until  the  sixth  century.  Herod 
died  about  five  years  before  the  received  date  of  the  birth 
of  Christ,1  which  event  and  the  massacre  at  Bethlehem  must 
have  taken  place  during  his  last  illness.2  Herod's  body- 
guard, composed  of  Germans,  Thracians,  and  Galatians,  was 

1  Kitto's  "Cyclopaedia  of  the  Bible"  says:  "The  birth  of  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  probably  took   place  somewhat   earlier   than 
the  date  which  is  usually  assigned  to  it.     Usage,  however,  has  long 
fixed  the  era  to  which  it  gave  rise  as  the  Christian  Era." 

2  Within  the  last   ten   years   archaeological   and   epigraphic  dis- 
coveries have  gone  far  to  solve  the  difficulties  caused  by  commen- 
tators  on   the   second   verse   of   St.   Luke's  second  chapter.     We 


HEROD    THE  KING.  241 

doubtless  employed  in  this  massacre,  as  it  was  in  many  others, 
but  its  bloodiest  service  was  performed  when  the  hope  that 
Herod's  end  was  near  inspired  two  fanatical  doctors  of 
the  Law  to  incite  their  scholars  to  tear  down  a  golden 
eagle,  which  had  been  placed,  as  a  sign  that  the  Temple 

know  now  that  "  enrolments,"  as  preliminary  to  taxation,  were  made 
throughout  the  Roman  Empire,  by  command  of  Augustus,  every 
fourteen  years.  We  have  the  record  of  such  enrolments  in  Egypt. 
We  have  evidence  that  the  same  enrolment  took  place  in  parts  of 
Syria  in  7  B.  c.  We  can  easily  infer  that  Herod,  well  knowing  what 
opposition  would  be  stirred  up  to  a  census  taken  among  the  Jews, 
would  make  use  of  all  his  influence  at  Rome  to  postpone  the  enrol- 
ment, and  finally  to  have  it  made,  not  in  the  Roman  fashion,  but 
by  tribes  and  families,  as  it  was  in  some  other  places  in  the  empire. 
Therefore  Joseph  and  his  wife  went  up  to  Bethlehem,  their  family 
city,  "  to  be  taxed,"  or  rather  to  be  "  enrolled "  as  preliminary  to 
taxation;  for  the  earliest  "taxing"  in  Palestine  did  not  take  place 
till  fourteen  years  later,  when  Herod  was  dead,  and  his  kingdom 
had  become  a  Roman  province.  Then  insurrections  took  place  all 
over  Judea.  This  taxing  was  enforced  by  Quirinius  (called  Cyrenius, 
as  a  surname  in  recognition  of  his  services  in  Cyrene),  who  was  then 
"governor  of  Syria."  But  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  this  with  the  asser- 
tion of  St.  Luke  that  Quirinius,  the  Governor  of  Syria,  had  charge  of 
the  taxing  or  enrolment  in  Galilee  fourteen  years  earlier. 

The  tombstone  of  this  brilliant  personage,  discovered  at  Tivoli  in 
1764,  records  his  triumphs,  and  adds  that  he  twice  governed  Syria  as 
legate  (or  deputy)  of  the  divine  Augustus.  During  the  years  6,  5, 
and  4  B.C.  Quirinius  was  employed  in  guerilla  warfare  with  a  barba- 
rous tribe,  the  Homondenses,  on  the  near  frontier  of  Galilee.  While 
engaged  on  this  service  his  authority  in  the  district  where  he  was 
sent  to  rule,  superseded  that  of  the  actual  governor  of  Syria,  and 
while  engaged  in  this  campaign,  or  rather  after  he  had  brought  it 
to  a  close,  it  is  reasonable  to  imagine  that  his  services  may  have 
been  invoked  by  Herod,  who  was  unwillingly  obliged  to  carry  out 
the  imperial  enrolment.  That  enrolment,  in  Palestine,  however, 
does  not  seem  to  have  gone  far.  We  read  that  Joseph  and  Mary 
travelled  to  Bethlehem,  but  we  hear  of  no  disturbances  provoked  by 
the  enrolment.  Nothing  was  probably  attempted  in  southern  Pal- 
estine. It  was  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  Quirinius.  But  in  the 
year  8  A.  D.,  the  periodic  year  of  enrolment  it  became  the  duty  of 
that  officer  to  enforce  taxation  all  over  Palestine,  from  Galilee  to 
Judea.  Great  was  the  emotion  it  excited.  To  pay  taxes  to  the 
Romans  was  a  sign  that  Jewish  independence  was  at  an  end.  For 
these  particulars,  and  much  other  information  on  the  same  subject, 
see  "  Was  Christ  born  in  Bethlehem?  A  Study  on  the  Credibility  of 
St.  Luke,"  by  W.  M.  Ramsay,  M.  A.,  D.  C.  L.  1898. 

16 


242  JUDEA. 

was  under  Roman  protection,  over  the  principal  gate  of 
the  sacred  building.  The  young  men  did  this  in  broad 
daylight,  hacking  the  eagle  to  pieces  with  their  swords. 
For  this,  the  two  doctors  and  forty  young  men  were  arrested. 
Herod  called  an  assembly  in  the  theatre,  and  was  so  eager 
for  their  conviction  that  he  had  himself  carried  thither  in 
a  litter.  He  insisted  that  no  mercy  should  be  shown  to  the 
culprits,  who  joyfully  met  death  in  the  spirit  of  martyrdom. 
Their  leaders  were  burned  alive,  and  the  high-priest,  who 
had  not  sufficiently  discouraged  the  uprising,  was  displaced 
and  superseded. 

The  king's  malady  made  frightful  progress,  —  the  more 
frightful  because  it  was  slow,  and  the  patient  suffered  great 
agony.  He  was  taken  to  the  waters  of  Callirhoe,  to  the 
fortress  of  Machaerus,  and  was  made  to  take  baths  of  hot 
oil  at  Jericho.  But  death  was  upon  him.  In  his  delirium 
he  raved  about  atrocious  deeds  by  which  he  might  make 
the  Jews  weep  on  the  day  of  his  demise  ;  and  at  one  time 
he  tried  to  kill  himself.  One  night  the  palace  resounded 
with  his  howlings.  Antipater,  who  was  in  a  dungeon,  heard 
the  sounds,  and  concluding  that  they  were  the  customary 
cries  of  wailing  at  a  great  man's  death,  tried  to  persuade 
his  jailer  to  release  him.  The  man  refused  his  offered 
bribe,  and  informed  the  old  king  of  the  request  made  him. 
The  rage  of  the  dying  monarch  knew  no  bounds.  Rising 
upon  his  elbow,  he  ordered  Antipater  to  be  slain  and  buried 
ignominously  at  Hyrcania.  Augustus,  who  was  much  dis- 
gusted at  this  sad  story,  said,  on  hearing  it,  "  It  were  better 
to  be  such  a  man's  pig  than  his  son." 

Herod  lived  five  days  after  the  murder  of  Antipater. 
He  died  at  Jericho,  and  before  his  death  contrived  once 
more  to  change  his  will.  Archelaus  received  Judea  and 
the  royal  diadem,  subject  to  the  sanction  of  the  Emperor 
Augustus ;  Antipas  had  the  tetrarchies  of  Perea  and  Gali- 
lee ;  while  Philip  was  made  tetrarch  of  Trachonitis  and  the 
surrounding  country.  Salome  and  other  relatives  were 
richly  provided  for,  and  large  legacies  were  left  to  Augustus 
and  his  daughter  Julia. 


HEROD    THE  KING.  243 

The  funeral  ceremonies  of  King  Herod  were  superb, 
and  were  presided  over  by  Archelaus.  The  burial  took 
place  at  Herodium,  a  large  and  magnificent  hunting-seat, 
well  fortified.  Some  years  before,  Herod  had  caused  a 
palace  to  be  built  on  a  long  hill  about  three  miles  south- 
east of  Bethlehem.  The  traces  of  it,  which  may  still  be 
seen,  give  us  the  idea  of  a  magnificent  place  of  abode. 
The  hunting  in  its  neighborhood  must  have  been  particu- 
larly good  in  the  days  of  Herod,  and  he  was  all  his  life  an 
enthusiastic  sportsman. 

The  body  was  borne  from  Jericho  to  this  place  on  a 
golden  litter,  adorned  with  precious  stones.  The  pall  was 
scarlet,  the  body  was  wrapped  in  purple,  the  head  was 
bound  with  a  diadem,  and  surmounted  by  a  golden  crown ; 
a  sceptre  was  in  the  dead  man's  hand.  Members  of  the 
family  of  the  deceased  were  grouped  around  him.  The 
army  followed,  divided  into  its  different  corps;  first  the 
king's  household  troops,  then  the  Thracians,  then  the  Gala- 
tians,  then  followed  the  main  body  of  the  army  as  if  setting 
out  on  an  expedition,  while  five  hundred  servants  bore 
perfumes.  "  Herod's  Tomb,"  still  shown  near  Jerusalem, 
is  only  a  cenotaph.  "  If,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  Herod's  idea  of 
a  secular  Jewish  kingdom  could  have  been  carried  out,  the 
world,  humanly  speaking,  could  have  had  no  Christianity. 
Israel  never  afterwards  knew  the  grasp  of  a  hand  like 
Herod's.  Herod  Antipas,  Herod  Agrippa,  and  the  Roman 
procurators  were  but  small  obstacles  to  the  development 
of  that  internal  life  whose  germ  Israel  was  already  bearing 
in  her  bosom." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

ARCHELAUS   REIGNS   IN   JUDEA. 

AS  we  have  seen,  Herod  in  his  last  hours  repeatedly 
altered  his  will,  unable  to  make  up  his  mind  to 
whom  he  would  bequeath  his  dominions.  However,  any 
testamentary  arrangement  he  might  propose  on  that  sub- 
ject required  the  consent  of  the  Roman  emperor  to  make 
it  valid. 

The  genealogy  of  the  Herodian  family  is  very  perplexing. 
Herod  left  two  sons  named  Philip,  —  Philip,  tetrarch  of 
Trachonitis,  whose  mother  was  Cleopatra  of  Jerusalem,  and 
Herod  Philip,  son  of  a  second  Mariamne.  To  this  Philip 
his  father's  final  will  left  no  part  of  his  dominions,  but  he 
was  a  man  of  great  wealth,  indolent  and  unambitious,  and 
he  was  well  content  to  spend  his  life  in  luxurious  ease  in 
Rome.  He  had  married  his  half-niece  Herodias,  grand- 
daughter of  the  ill-fated  Asmonean  princess  Mariamne,  and 
daughter  of  Aristobulus,  her  no  less  ill-fated  son. 

Philip  the  tetrarch  was  by  far  the  best  ruler  in  the 
Herodian  family.  He  kept  his  tetrarchy  in  comparative 
peace  for  thirty-seven  years.  Very  late  in  life  he  married 
Salome,  the  daughter  of  Herodias  by  her  first  husband. 
This  Salome  was  the  damsel  who  danced  before  Herod 
Antipas,  and  claimed  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist  in  a 
charger.  Philip  died  in  the  year  34  A.  D.  at  Bethsaida  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  a  city  he  had 
beautified  with  Grecian  art,  and  had  called  Julias  in  com- 
pliment to  the  daughter  of  Augustus  Csesar.  He  left  no 
children,  and  a  few  years  after  his  death  his  dominions 
were  annexed  to  the  province  of  Syria. 

Archelaus  seems   to   have   been  universally  mistrusted. 


ARCHELAUS  REIGNS  IN  JUDEA.  245 

He  was  especially  unpopular  in  Jerusalem.  He  gave  mag- 
nificent funeral  honors  to  his  father  Herod,  and  punctili- 
ously fulfilled  all  public  duties  enjoined  on  him  by  Jewish 
Law  during  the  seven  days  of  mourning,  but  it  was  at 
first  whispered,  and  then  asserted  loudly  that  while  he 
mourned  decorously  in  public,  his  nights  were  passed  in 
wild  revelry  with  boon  companions,  in  the  course  of 
which  rejoicings  for  the  tyrant's  death  were  not  omitted. 

Immediately  after  the  funeral  of  his  father,  he  assembled 
his  soldiers,  and  read  to  them  King  Herod's  will.  Next  day 
a  great  feast  was  prepared  in  Jerusalem  for  the  populace, 
after  which  the  multitude  was  invited  to  attend  him  in  the 
Temple.  There,  clad  in  white,  and  seated  on  a  golden 
throne,  he  made  a  speech  promising  to  rule  more  justly 
and  with  less  severity  than  his  father  had  done.  His 
speech  was  well  received.  His  hearers  cheered  him.  But 
very  soon  a  long  procession  of  women,  children,  and  old 
men  in  deepest  mourning  appeared  before  him.  They 
came  to  demand  the  deposition  and  punishment  of  Joazar 
the  high-priest,  the  son  of  Boethus,  who  had  countenanced 
the  torture  and  execution  of  the  forty  young  fanatics  who 
in  the  last  months  of  Herod's  reign  had  hacked  down  the 
golden  eagle  set  up  over  the  principal  entrance  to  the 
Temple.  To  this  they  added  a  demand  for  the  reduction 
of  taxes,  for  the  liberation  of  prisoners  who  had  languished 
long  years  in  Herod's  dungeons,  and  for  the  punishment  of 
those  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  who  had  given  their  vote 
for  the  death  sentence  passed  on  the  young  men  who  had 
outraged  the  emblem  of  Roman  power  in  their  zeal  for 
the  Law. 

Archelaus,  unwilling  to  begin  his  reign  by  destroying  the 
popularity  which  he  flattered  himself  he  was  about  to  win, 
protested  that  he  could  not  legally  depose  the  high-priest, 
remit  taxes,  or  comply  with  the  other  demands  these 
people  urged  on  him  with  threats  of  violence,  until  he  had 
been  acknowledged  king  by  Augustus  Caesar.  He  sent 
centurions  repeatedly  to  allay  the  excitement,  to  explain, 
to  implore,  and  finally  to  order  the  dispersion  of  the 


246  JUDEA. 

crowd.  His  officers  were  received  with  showers  of  stones. 
It  was  the  time  of  the  Passover;  thousands  of  strangers 
had  crowded  into  Jerusalem,  some  from  the  rural  districts, 
some  from  distant  lands.  They  sympathized  with  the 
aggrieved  relatives  of  the  young  disciples  of  Judas,  son  of 
Seraphius,  and  Matthias,  son  of  Margaloth. 

The  tumult  became  so  threatening  that  Archelaus  at 
length  sent  his  guard  to  disperse  the  rioters  by  force.  The 
multitude  resisted  the  soldiers,  who  at  first  showed  con- 
siderable forbearance,  but  they  were  overcome,  and  their 
commanding  officer  was  dangerously  wounded.  Then 
Archelaus,  defiant  and  exasperated,  sent  all  his  foreign 
mercenaries  to  restore  order,  and  arrest  the  ringleaders  of 
the  revolt.  They  did  so  after  an  indiscriminate  massacre. 
Cavalry  were  sent  out  after  those  who  attempted  to  escape, 
killed  many  of  them  who  were  Passover  pilgrims,  and 
chased  numbers  into  the  mountains.  Three  thousand 
unarmed  persons,  it  is  said,  perished  that  day.  No  doubt 
some  were  present  who  had  come  from  Egypt,  and  who, 
having  made  their  escape  (for  the  Passover  services  that 
year  were  discontinued),  at  once  carried  home  news  of 
this  event,  and  may  have  told  their  story  in  the  ears  of 
Joseph,  who,  when  preparing  to  return  to  Bethlehem,  "  was 
afraid  to  go  thither,"  and  "turned  aside  into  the  parts  of 
Galilee." 

Archelaus,  leaving  mourning,  desolation,  and  fierce 
wrath  behind  him  in  Jerusalem,  hurried  with  all  speed  to 
Rome.  He  took  with  him  his  father's  friend  Nicolaus  of 
Damascus,  to  plead  his  cause  before  Augustus ;  but  at  the 
same  time  Herod  Antipas  set  out  on  a  like  errand  to 
establish  the  validity  of  a  will  prior  to  his  father's  last  two 
testaments,  which  will  had  left  him  sole  inheritor  of  his 
father's  dominions. 

Herod  Antipas,  and  his  orator  Irenasus,  asserted  (and 
no  doubt  with  truth)  that  the  two  later  wills  had  been  made 
under  undue  influence  by  a  man  whose  faculties  were  dis- 
ordered by  delirium. 

Archelaus  was  as  little  liked  and  trusted  by  his  kinsfolk 


ARCHELAUS  REIGNS  IN  JUDEA.  247 

as  by  the  people  in  Jerusalem.  Quitting  Judea  they 
all  hurried  to  Rome  to  take  the  part  of  Herod  Antipas,  — 
"  that  fox  "  who  many  years  afterwards  ordered  the  execu- 
tion of  John  the  Baptist,  and  before  whom  Jesus  was 
brought  on  the  morning  of  the  day  of  his  crucifixion. 

Antipas,  however,  was  not  in  favour  with  Augustus.  He 
had  been  educated  in  Rome,  and  had  there  acquired  from 
his  contemporaries  the  name  of  "the  wily  sneak."  In 
spite  of  the  combined  efforts  of  the  whole  Herodian  family, 
and  the  influence  of  a  large  deputation  of  leading  Jews 
from  Palestine,  backed  by  eight  thousand  of  their  country- 
men already  residents  in  Rome,  Augustus,  after  long  delay, 
sustained  the  final  will  of  Herod,  allowing  Archelaus,  how- 
ever, only  the  dignity  of  ethnarch,  but  promising  to  make 
him  a  king  if  satisfied  with  his  behavior. 

The  Jewish  deputation  which  had  been  encouraged  to 
proceed  to  Rome  by  Varus,  the  Governor  of  Syria,  came, 
not  to  support  the  cause  of  Antipas,  but  to  implore  Caesar 
to  set  aside  all  the  Herodian  family,  and  to  make  Palestine 
a  province  of  the  Roman  Empire  with  the  privilege  of 
home  rule  under  its  own  high-priest,  and  its  Mosaic  laws. 
Such  had  been  virtually  the  condition  of  Judea  during  two 
hundred  years,  while  the  Jews  lived  comparatively  happy 
and  at  peace  under  the  kings  of  Persia.  The  petitioners 
had  had  little  doubt  that  Augustus  would  at  once  agree 
to  their  proposal,  —  but  he  rejected  it.  Nine  years  later 
Judea  did  indeed  become  a  Roman  province,  but  with  no 
satisfactory  guarantees  on  the  subject  of  home  rule. 

During  the  absence  of  Archelaus  his  country  was  in  a 
state  of  anarchy  and  insurrection.  The  Governor  of  Syria 
sent  Sabinus,  a  Roman  general,  with  a  legion,  to  secure 
the  treasures  left  by  Herod  and  to  restore  order.  Sabinus, 
however,  "  by  his  rapacity  and  extortions,  his  plunderings 
and  exactions,  drove  the  people  of  Jerusalem  to  madness." 
The  Jews  rose  en  masse,  shut  up  the  Roman  garrison  with 
Sabinus  in  the  Castle  of  Antonia,  and  besieged  them  there. 
From  the  roofs  of  the  long  cloisters,  which  on  three  sides 
enclosed  the  precincts  of  the  Temple  (each  cloister  being 


248  JUDEA. 

175  feet  long),  the  men  of  Jerusalem  hurled  missiles  at  the 
defenders  of  the  castle.  These  replied  with  arrows,  jave- 
lins, and  firebrands.  The  wooden  roofs  of  the  cloisters, 
which  were  overspread  with  wax  and  varnish,  soon  caught 
fire.  The  Jews  who  were  stationed  on  these  roofs,  when 
surrounded  by  flames  and  bewildered  by  smoke,  sank  down 
into  the  burning  mass,  as  the  structure  which  sustained 
them  crumbled  beneath  their  feet ;  and  hundreds  perished. 
Animated  by  rapacity  and  fury,  the  soldiers  of  Sabinus 
burst  through  all  obstacles,  made  their  way  into  the  Temple, 
and  plundered  on  all  sides.  They  even  broke  into  the 
treasury,  from  which  they  obtained  an  immense  booty, 
giving  their  commander,  as  his  share  of  it,  four  hundred 
talents  (£400,000). 

Sabinus,  however,  did  not  obtain  possession  of  the  city. 
His  legion  was  forced  back  into  the  castle,  the  siege  of 
which  went  on.  The  country  was  without  any  regular 
government.  The  despotism  of  Herod  was  at  an  end ; 
nothing  had  taken  its  place.  The  whole  city  was  in  a 
state  of  excitement.  Could  Simeon  and  aged  Anna  have 
beheld  these  things?  Throughout  the  world  there  was 
a  general  feeling  of  expectation  and  unrest ;  but  this  was 
above  all  strong  in  Judea,  where  men  believed  their 
Prophets  and  felt  certain  that  a  Deliverer  must  be  at  hand. 

Varus  with  two  legions  drawn  from  Syria,  and  a  large 
body  of  Arab  cavalry  made  an  attempt  to  succor  Sabinus, 
with  whom,  however,  he  was  greatly  displeased  for  dis- 
obedience to  his  orders  in  his  dealings  with  the  Jews. 
He  marched  on  Jerusalem,  raised  the  siege  of  the  castle, 
and  Sabinus,  afraid  to  meet  him,  stole  away  to  the  sea- 
coast,  and  made  his  way  to  Rome. 

During  this  time  the  decision  of  Augustus  respecting 
Herod's  testament  remained  suspended,  but  at  length,  the 
last  will  was  sustained.  Archelaus,  with  a  revenue  of  600 
talents,  was  left  to  govern  Judea.  Augustus  gave  the 
wealth  that  Herod's  will  bestowed  upon  himself  to  dower 
the  two  unmarried  daughters  of  the  deceased  prince, 
retaining  nothing  but  some  superb  silver  plate  as  a  remem- 


ARCHELAUS  REIGNS  IN  JUDEA.  249 

brance  of  the  magnificent  despot,  who,  in  spite  of  all  his 
faults,  had  remained  faithful  to  him. 

The  reign  of  Archelaus  in  Judea,  which  lasted  through 
the  childhood  of  Jesus,  was  marked  by  cruelty,  injustice, 
and  impiety ;  but  very  few  particulars  of  his  rule  have 
come  down  to  us.  He  dismissed  Joazar  from  the  office 
of  high-priest,  put  Eleazar  in  his  place,  deposed  him,  and 
gave  his  authority  (now  wholly  ecclesiastical)  to  one  Joshua 
ben  Sie  ;  and,  finally,  he  restored  Joazar.  We  know  no 
reason  for  these  changes.  They  were  brought  about  prob- 
ably by  bribes. 

Archelaus  lived  much  of  his  time  in  Jericho  in  great 
magnificence,  and  took  pains  to  promote  the  cultivation 
of  its  palm  trees.  He  divorced  his  wife  and  married 
Glaphyra,  daughter  of  the  King  of  Cappadocia.  She  had 
been  twice  a  widow,  having  been  first  married  to  Alexander, 
half  brother  of  Archelaus,  the  son  of  Herod  and  Mariamne, 
and  secondly  to  Juba,  King  of  Lybia.  Her  marriage  with 
Archelaus  the  Jewish  law  held  to  be  incestuous,  marriage  with 
a  deceased  brother's  wife  being  prohibited,  except  when  its 
purpose  was  to  provide  heirs  for  the  inheritance  of  the 
first  husband.  Glaphyra  had  borne  two  sons  to  Alexander, 
who  both  afterwards  became  rulers  in  Armenia. 

When  Archelaus  had  reigned  nine  years,  bitter  complaints 
of  his  administration  were  made  to  Augustus,  and  an  order 
was  sent,  commanding  him  to  repair  at  once  to  Rome. 
This  order  reached  him  as  he  was  presiding  at  a  banquet. 
It  was  of  course  obeyed.  His  cause  was  heard  before  the 
emperor :  his  relations  as  well  as  his  subjects  were  his 
accusers,  and  he  was  banished  to  Vienne  in  the  mountains 
of  Dauphine",  a  town  which,  in  the  middle  ages  chose  for 
its  patron  Saint  Anthony.  The  estates  of  the  deposed  prince 
were  confiscated,  and  Judea  became  a  Roman  province. 
With  Archelaus  "  the  sceptre  departed  from  Judah,"  not 
only  from  the  house  of  David,  but  from  the  Asmonean 
family,  and  from  the  family  of  Herod.  The  kings  of  Judea, 
with  few  exceptions,  had  done  no  credit  to  the  dignity  to 
which  they  had  been  raised,  more  than  a  thousand  years 


250  JUDEA. 

before,  in  opposition  to  the  remonstrances  of  the  Prophet 
Samuel. 

When  Herod  set  out  for  his  interview  with  Octavius 
after  the  battle  of  Actium,  from  which  he  had  little  hope 
he  would  happily  return,  he  had  felt  compelled  to  make 
some  change  in  the  Sanhedrim.  There  was  at  that  time 
in  Jerusalem  a  Babylonian  Jew  named  Hillel.  He  had 
been  living  in  great  poverty,  but  he  was  of  distinguished 
descent  and  of  sincere  piety.  Some  said  his  lineage  could 
be  traced  back  to  David.  He  had  probably  come  to  Judea 
with  Hananel,  who  seems  to  have  been  an  inoffensive 
man,  when  he  was  called  by  Herod  to  be  high-priest  at 
Jerusalem. 

Hillel  became  a  devoted  disciple  of  Shemaiah  and  Aba- 
talion  the  Pharasaic  leaders.  His  especial  characteristics 
were  loving-kindness,  gentleness,  firm  confidence  in  God, 
love  of  peace,  and  consideration  for  others.  These  were 
rare  qualities  in  that  day.  To  him  is  attributed  the  first 
utterance  of  the  Golden  Rule  :  "  Do  not  unto  others  that 
which  thou  wouldest  not  have  done  unto  thee." 

This  was  the  man  whom  Herod  chose  to  be  President 
of  the  Sanhedrim,  the  "  Senate  of  the  Jews."  If  strife  and 
division  arose,  Hillel  was  always  on  the  side  of  conciliation. 
His  maxim  was  that  by  love  men  could  be  best  led  to  fulfil 
the  Law.  Other  of  his  maxims  were  that  "  he  who  wishes 
to  raise  his  name  lowers  it "  ;  "he  who  does  not  seek  the 
Law  does  not  deserve  to  live  "  ;  "he  who  does  not  progress 
in  learning  retrogrades  "  ;  "  he  who  uses  the  crown  of  the 
Law  for  his  own  ends,  perishes." 

These  maxims  sound  like  preludes  to  the  teaching  of 
Jesus.  But  Hillel  not  only  set  great  value  on  oral  tradi- 
tion, but  he  enlarged  its  influence ;  though  at  the  same 
time  he  endeavored  to  trace  the  statutes  of  the  Law  back 
to  first  principles  and  to  raise  their  observance  out  of  the 
narrow  circle  of  tradition  and  mere  custom.  In  other 
words,  he  desired  to  infuse  spirituality  into  mere  observance. 
One  discussion  in  which  he  took  part  was  as  to  what  should 
be  done  when  the  evening  before  the  Paschal  Feast  fell  at 


ARCHELAUS  REIGNS  IN  JUDEA.  2$\ 

sunset  on  Friday  (as  it  did  on  the  day  of  our  Lord's 
arrest  and  crucifixion).  Hillel  laid  down  the  rule  that  the 
Paschal  Sacrifice  took  precedence  of  Sabbath  observance, 
but  custom  apparently  afterwards  sanctioned  the  eating  of 
the  Paschal  supper  on  the  Thursday  evening. 

Associated  with  Hillel  in  the  Sanhedrim,  by  Herod's 
especial  desire,  was  Menahem,  an  Essene,  who,  it  is  said,  in 
Herod's  youth  prophesied  his  greatness.  But  Menahem 
soon  found  his  position  onerous,  and  resigned  in  favor  of 
Shammai,  who  in  all  respects  was  the  opposite  and  oppon- 
ent of  Hillel.  The  two  became  leaders  of  two  schools 
among  the  Pharisees  which  exerted  a  powerful  influence 
during  the  subsequent  unsettled  and  warlike  times. 
"  Herod,"  says  Professor  Graetz,  "  had  no  conception  of 
the  forces  antagonistic  to  his  house  that  were  quietly  de- 
veloping within  the  seclusion  of  the  schools." 

It  was  the  followers  of  Shammai  whom  the  Lord  de- 
nounced as  "  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  "  Sham- 
mai was  the  narrow  rigorist  incarnate,  a  man  who  had  no 
end  in  life  but  the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  Law.  Hillel  was 
favorable  to  proselytes,  Shammai  looked  on  proselytes  with 
scorn.  As  an  instance  of  his  strict  observance  of  every  jot 
and  tittle  of  the  Law,  M.  Renan  relates  that  the  Sabbath 
kept  him  busy  all  the  week.  From  Wednesday  he  forbade 
the  sending  of  a  letter  because  it  might  chance  to  reach  its 
destination  on  the  Sabbath  Day. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

GALILEE   UNDER    HEROD   ANTIPAS. 

THE  system  of  government  applied  by  the  Emperor 
Augustus  to  his  vast  dominions  was  intended  to  veil 
his  despotism  under  old  Roman  republican  forms.  The 
Senate,  although  it  had  no  real  power  left,  maintained  a 
semblance  of  influence  and  authority.  The  provinces  of 
the  empire  were  divided  into  Imperial  Provinces,  whose 
rulers  were  under  the  authority  of  Augustus  himself,  and 
Senatorial  Provinces,  governed  by  the  Senate  under  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Csesar.  All  frontier  provinces 
were  Imperial.  Syria,  into  which,  on  the  deposition  of 
Archelaus,  Judea  was  incorporated,  was  a  frontier  province, 
and  in  consequence  Judea  became  burdened  with  all  the 
grievous  weight  of  military  exactions  and  free  quarters  for 
a  licentious  soldiery.  It  had  a  procurator,  that  is,  a  Roman 
ruler,  who  was  a  lieutenant  of  the  Governor  (or  Legate)  of 
Syria.  The  chief  duty  of  this  procurator  was  to  collect  the 
taxes,  and  to  put  down  public  disturbances.  The  internal 
administration  of  government  in  Judea  was,  nominally,  left 
to  the  high-priest  and  the  Great  Council,  or  Sanhedrim. 
But  this  state  of  things  did  not  apply  to  Galilee,  which, 
when  the  emperor  had  given  his  decision  respecting 
Herod's  will,  was  committed  to  the  government  of  its 
tetrarch,  Herod  Antipas. 

A  tetrarchy  was  originally  the  fourth  part  of  what  had 
been  a  kingdom.  The  position  of  Herod  Antipas  was  in 
fact  not  unlike  that  of  a  rajah  in  India  under  the  English 
Government. 

During  a  sojourn  of  Herod  Antipas  in  Rome  he  was  the 
guest  of  his  half-brother  Herod  Philip,  who  after  his  disin- 


GALILEE    UNDER  HEROD  AN  TIP  AS. 

heritance  was  content  to  live  in  luxury  in  the  Imperial  City. 
The  wife  of  this  prince  was  his  half-niece  Herodias,  the 
granddaughter  of  Mariamne.  She  by  no  means  relished 
her  husband's  acquiescence  in  the  fate  which  made  him  a 
quiet  citizen.  She  carried  on  an  intrigue  with  Herod  Anti- 
pas  while  he  was  a  guest  in  her  husband's  house.  She  and 
her  daughter  followed  him  to  his  tetrarchy,  and  he  prom- 
ised to  divorce  his  wife,  an  Arabian  princess,  and  then 
marry  her. 

Galilee,  which  now  lies  bare  and  desolate,  save  for  its 
wilderness  of  wild  flowers,  was  then  the  most  beautiful  and 
fertile  part  of  Palestine.  It  was  from  Galilee  that  were 
drawn  the  descriptions  of  rural  life  and  Nature  in  the 
Canticles.  Ruins  of  its  lost  cities  seem  even  now  almost 
to  touch  each  other.  In  spring  its  hills  and  fields  were 
carpeted  with  flowers.  Lilies,  rhododendrons,  and  azaleas 
still  grow  to  the  very  edge  of  the  beautiful  lake,  which  has 
now  but  one  crazy  boat  upon  its  "  gliding  waters."  *  Jo- 
sephus  tells  us  that  the  Galileans  were  men  brave,  ener- 
getic, and  industrious.  They  were  not,  however,  held  in 
esteem  by  the  inhabitants  of  Judea,  who  were  wholly  ab- 
sorbed in  their  own  political  quarrels,  and  in  adjusting  their 
habits  of  every-day  life  to  the  requirements  of  tradition. 

There  were  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  of  course  in 
Galilee,  both  zealous  for  the  observance  of  the  Law,  but 
differing  entirely  in  their  religious  opinions.  It  naturally 
strikes  us  with  some  surprise  that  orthodoxy  in  the  days  of 
our  Saviour  consisted  in  strict  observance  of  the  minutest 
parts  of  the  Law  as  interpreted  by  tradition,  whilst  men 
were  permitted  the  widest  latitude  of  belief,  provided  they 
infringed  no  legal  regulations.  It  was  the  same  thing  in 
Rome.  Men  there  were  never  questioned  concerning  their 
religious  beliefs ;  conformity  with  acts  of  worship  required 
by  the  State  was  all  that  was  asked  of  them.  It  was  this 
that  made  it  possible  for  John  the  Baptist  and  our  Lord 
to  preach  and  teach  in  Galilee  and  Judea  without  direct 
interference  on  that  account  from  the  authorities. 

1  See  Edmond  Stapfer,  Palestine  in  the  time  of  Christ. 


254  JUDEA. 

The  Sadducees,  who  had  held  the  high-priesthood  and 
all  offices  of  profit  in  the  decadent  days  of  the  Asmonean 
princes,  regained  power  under  the  family  of  Herod.  It 
was  easier  for  a  semi-pagan  prince  to  work  harmoniously 
with  them  than  with  the  Pharisees,  who  were,  however,  the 
patriotic  party,  the  idols  of  the  people,  and  everywhere 
enjoyed  great  influence,  especially  in  Galilee. 

The  Lake  of  Gennezareth,  the  scene  of  our  Lord's  early 
life,  and  of  a  large  part  of  his  ministry,  is  about  thirteen 
miles  long  and  seven  or  eight  miles  wide.  The  river 
Jordan  flows  through  it;  its  waters,  its  pebbly  beach,  its 
horizon,  its  shells,  and  flowers,  are  now  all  that  remain  of 
the  beautiful  region  associated  with  so  many  years  of  the  life 
of  our  Saviour.  There  are  no  trees  now  to  be  seen  where 
Josephus  tells  us  vegetation  was  once  a  miracle,  combining 
the  fruit  trees  of  both  temperate  and  tropical  climes. 
Indeed,  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  discouraged  the  sale 
of  Galilean  fruits  during  the  great  feasts,  lest  men  should 
be  attracted  to  their  city  less  by  religious  motives  than  by 
the  hope  of  eating  them.  Little  peninsulas  covered  with 
oleanders,  tamarinds,  and  other  shrubs,  still  run  out  into 
the  lake  ;  some  of  them  indeed  look,  it  is  said,  like  gardens 
beautiful  with  grass  and  flowers.1  To  the  north  may  be 
seen  the  snowy  crest  of  Hermon,  one  of  the  foot-hills  of 
which  is  pointed  out  as  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration. 
Thence  westward  towards  the  coast  extends  a  range  of 
mountains. 

In  the  days  of  which  we  write  Josephus  speaks  of  the 
climate  of  Galilee  as  very  temperate.  Now  the  country 

1  The  lake  is  subject  to  sudden,  furious  gusts  of  wind.  In  1841, 
I  was  in  an  open  boat  on  the  Lake  of  Annecy  in  Savoy.  The  day 
was  bright,  the  waters  of  the  lake  were  calm,  when  suddenly  a 
furious  wind  came  down  a  gully  which  debouched  into  the  lake  ;  we 
were  in  considerable  danger  ;  the  waves  rose,  the  boat  pitched 
and  tossed,  our  stout  rowers  were  unable  to  contend  against  the 
wind-storm.  They  made  for  the  nearest  point  of  land,  and  put  us  on 
shore  near  a  lime-kiln,  where  we  dried  our  clothes,  and  then  tramped 
back  to  our  hotel.  We  were  told  that  such  a  sudden  bo-urasque  was 
not  uncommon  upon  lakes,  and  were  reminded  of  the  storm  that 
beset  our  Saviour  and  his  followers  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee. 


GALILEE    UNDER  HEROD  ANTIPAS.  255 

round  the  lake  is  in  summer  like  a  fiery  furnace,  and  the 
swarms  of  mosquitoes  are  terrible.  The  destruction  of 
trees  has  probably  had  much  to  do  with  this  change  of 
temperature.  Five  little  towns  or  villages  in  which  Jesus 
preached  stood  on  the  right  bank  of  the  lake  :  Magdala, 
Dalmanutha,  Capernaum,  Bethsaida,1  and  Chorazin.  Only 
one  of  these  can  now  be  identified  with  certainty.  Besides 
these,  Herod  Antipas,  who  had  been  very  friendly  with 
Tiberius  during  his  residence  in  Rome  (although  he  was 
never  in  favor  with  Augustus)  built  a  beautiful  new  city  on 
the  lake,  and  called  it  Tiberias.  Its  situation  was  one  of 
exceeding  loveliness,  and  it  was  not  far  from  the  much 
frequented  hot  springs  of  Calirrhoe.  Alas  !  the  city  for 
three  generations  was  destined  never  to  be  inhabited  by 
strict  Jews.  Any  Jew  who,  having  entered  it,  came  forth 
incurred  the  penalty  of  ceremonial  uncleanness.  We  do 
not  hear  that  Jesus  ever  entered  its  gates.  In  vain  Herod 
Antipas  offered  large  inducements  to  those  who  would 
inhabit  his  beautiful  city ;  in  vain  he  built  in  it  a  superb 
synagogue.  In  digging  the  foundations  of  the  city  work- 
men had  come  upon  some  human  bones ;  it  had  evidently 
been  a  battlefield,  or  an  ancient  burial-place.  The  spot  was 
pronounced  unclean.  Herod  had  great  difficulty  in  pro- 
viding it  with  inhabitants ;  he  was  forced  to  bribe  the 
lowest  of  the  people  to  form  the  laboring  portion  of  its 
population.  Its  inhabitants  accordingly  consisted  of  officers 
of  his  army,  Romans,  Greeks,  and  the  lax  Jews,  called  in  the 
New  Testament  the  Herodians. 

The  Herodians  were  not  a  religious  sect  but  a  political 
party,  ready  to  relax  compliance  with  the  exactions  of  the 
Ceremonial  Law,  like  the  semi-pagans  of  the  family  of 
Herod.  Herod  Antipas,  however,  found  it  politic  to  be 
punctilious  in  his  observance  of  the  Yearly  Feasts,  to 
attend  which  he  went  up  every  year  to  Jerusalem. 

He  built  an  arsenal  in  Sepphoris,  which  was  not  situated 

1  There  were  two  Bethsaidas  :  one  on  the  western  shore  of  the 
lake  in  the  tetrarchy  of  Herod  Antipas,  the  other  on  the  eastern  shore 
in  the  tetrarchy  of  his  brother  Philip. 


256  JUDEA. 

upon  the  lake.  He  also  rebuilt  Beth-Haran,  and  called  it 
Livias  in  compliment  to  the  wife  of  Augustus  Csesar. 
Philip,  the  Tetrarch  of  Trachonitis,  built  in  his  own  domin- 
ions on  the  frontier  of  Galilee,  Caesarea  Philippi,  and  called 
it  after  the  emperor,  but,  by  way  of  distinction  from  the 
older  Csesarea  on  the  sea-coast,  he  added  his  own  name 
Philip  to  that  of  Csesarea. 

Through  Galilee  ran  the  high-road  from  the  sea-coast  to 
Damascus ;  and  an  immense  deal  of  traffic  and  of  travel  must 
have  passed  over  it  in  the  early  years  of  our  Saviour's  life. 
Galilee  had  a  large  mixed  population,  besides  Jews,  resident 
within  its  borders,  and  its  people  had  begun  to  feel  something 
of  the  same  pity  felt  by  Jews  in  Alexandria  for  their  pagan 
associates.  Many  proselytes  were  made,  some  of  them 
persons  of  rank,  and  some  were  even  Roman  officers.  But 
early  in  the  days  of  Herod  Antipas  the  whole  country  was 
thrown  into  a  convulsion. 

The  great  object  of  the  Roman  government  in  every 
subject  province  was  to  impose  and  to  collect  taxes.  From 
the  subject  kingdoms  or  tetrarchies  this  tribute  was  required, 
and  as  it  was  to  be  raised  directly  from  the  people,  "  there 
went  out  a  decree  from  Csesar  Augustus  that  all  the  world 
should  be  taxed." 1 

This  decree  of  the  emperor  concerning  taxation  has 
imposed  great  difficulties  upon  students  of  the  Bible.  It 
took  place,  says  St.  Luke,  "  when  Cyrenius  was  Governor 
of  Syria."  Cyrenius  is  identified  with  Publius  Sulpicius 
Quirinius,  who  in  the  year  eight  in  the  Christian  era  was 
made  Governor  of  Syria  for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying 
out  the  imperial  decree  relating  to  taxation.  The  solution 
of  the  difficulty  which  seems  to  place  the  mission  of 
Quirinius  eight  years  later  than  what  is  popularly  received 
as  the  date  of  our  Lord's  birth,  is  probably  that  in  the 

1  According  to  recent  discoveries  we  are  led  to  believe  that  a 
census  to  form  the  basis  of  this  taxation  was  made  throughout  the 
Roman  Empire  every  fourteen  years  ;  that  the  first  attempt  to  make 
this  enrolment  in  Syria  took  place  about  6  B.  c.  But  the  matter 
was  subsequently  laid  aside  for  fourteen  years  at  the  suggestion  or 
request  of  Herod. 


GALILEE    UNDER  HEROD  ANTIPAS.  2$? 

latter  months  of  the  life  of  Herod,  Quirinius,  who  we  know 
had  held  many  high  offices  under  the  Roman  government, 
was  associated  with  Sentius  Saturninus,  Governor  of  Syria, 
in  an  attempt  to  take  a  census  of  the  Jewish  people,  pre- 
liminary to  an  estimate  on  their  property,  and  as  a  basis 
for  the  capitation  tax ;  but  in  order  to  infringe  as  little  as 
possible  on  Jewish  prejudices  (for  it  was  well  known  that 
the  census  would  be  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Jews)  it  was 
not  carried  on  in  the  usual  Roman  fashion,  but,  according 
to  Jewish  custom,  each  householder  was  summoned  to 
appear  in  the  town  to  which  his  family  originally  belonged.1 
Possibly  this  census-taking  did  not  at  that  time  go  very  far, 
as  we  do  not  hear  of  any  tumults  it  excited  in  Judea,  but 
the  whole  country  for  other  causes  was,  as  we  know,  dis- 
quieted, and  Quirinius  may  have  suspended  his  labors.  At 
any  rate,  A.  D.  6  he  was  made  Proconsul  of  Syria,  with 
especial  directions  to  carry  out  the  taxation  plan. 

The  census  for  taxation,  when  at  last  attempted  by 
Quirinius,  was  met  by  the  most  furious  opposition  in 
Galilee,  where  Judas,  a  descendant  of  that  Hezekiah  — 
patriot  or  robber  —  whose  destruction  was  one  of  the 
earliest  public  acts  of  Herod  the  Great,  resolved  to  play 
the  same  part  as  the  Maccabees  of  old.  His  followers  took 
their  name  from  the  dying  exhortation  of  old  Mattathiah 
to  his  five  valiant  sons  :  "  Be  ye  zealots  for  the  Law,  and 
sacrifice  your  lives  for  it."  They  called  themselves  Zealots,2 
and  they  were  afterwards  joined  by  the  Sicarii,  so  called 
from  siccz,  the  curved  daggers  that  they  carried  under  their 
cloakSj  with  which  they  were  ready,  whenever  opportunity 
offered,  to  assassinate  those  whom  they  considered  the 
enemies  of  their  religion. 

In  Galilee  immense  numbers  of  men  enrolled  themselves 

1  The  local  customs  and  observances  of  the  Law,  laden  by  tradi- 
tions (hedged  about  by  traditions  as  the  Jews  themselves  said),  must 
have  been  as  perplexing,  and  as  full  of  occasions  of  giving  offence, 
as  the  laws  of  caste  and  caste  customs  are  to  F.nglish  rulers  in  India. 

2  Possibly  the  Apostle  Simon  Zelotes,  of  whose  history  so  little  is 
recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  may  have  been  one  of  the  Zealots 
before  he  became  a  disciple. 


258  JUDEA. 

as  Zealots,  each  pledging  himself  by  a  solemn  oath  to  five 
things:  i.  To  acknowledge  God  as  the  sole  King  of  the 
Jews,  and  Sovereign  of  the  land.  2.  To  reject,  resist,  and 
despise  all  other  temporal  authorities.  3.  To  consider  all 
means  lawful  that  might  destroy  the  authority  of  Rome. 
4.  To  sacrifice  not  only  their  own  lives,  but  the  lives  of  those 
dear  to  them,  or  dependent  on  them,  if  it  should  be  neces- 
sary, to  recover  the  liberty  of  the  people  and  to  re-establish 
the  Law  of  Moses.  5.  To  make  no  peace  with  the  Romans 
or  with  any  false  Jews,  their  allies.1 

In  the  rural  districts  of  Judea  the  prudence  of  the  high- 
priest  Joazar  seems  to  have  kept  the  populace  from  any 
outbreak,  but  in  Jerusalem  the  Zealots  stirred  up  the  fiercest 
opposition. 

In  Galilee  the  bands  of  Judas  with  whom  was  associated 
Zadok,  a  Pharisee,  waged  a  guerilla  warfare  with  a  power 
they  were  too  weak  to  meet  boldly  in  the  field.  They  found 
shelter  in  caverns  and  among  inaccessible  rocks,  and  when 
opportunity  offered  they  sallied  forth  to  do  what  harm  they 
could  to  Romans,  and  to  destroy  such  Jews  as  were  their 
friends  and  allies.  They  cared  not  for  their  own  lives,  — 
they  had  sworn  to  sacrifice  them  in  the  cause  of  nationality ; 
they  had  sworn,  too,  that  no  foreigner  should  bear  rule  in 
Judea  or  in  Galilee.  Guerillas,  as  we  know,  whether  in 
Spain  among  the  mountains  of  the  Asturias,  or  in  the  hills 
and  woods  of  Cuba,  or  of  Luzon,  can  long  resist  the  best-laid 
schemes  of  a  regular  army.  Tens  of  thousands  of  Jews 
before  long  joined  the  brotherhood  of  Zealots. 

Meantime  Quirinius,  ignoring  Rome's  obligations  to 
Joazar,  deposed  him  from  the  high-priesthood,  and  put 
in  his  place  Ananus  —  Annas  in  the  New  Testament, 
Hanan  in  Hebrew.  It  took  Quirinius  about  four  years  to 
complete  his  registration  and  assessment.  He  then  de- 

1  It  chanced  that  just  before  writing  these  lines,  a  friend  had  been 
reading  to  me  Scott's  "Old  Mortality,"  and  I  was  astonished  — 
having  my  mind  full  of  the  subject  of  the  Zealots  —  to  see  how 
exactly  their  sentiments  and  those  of  the  Covenanters  and  Cameron- 
ians  of  the  year  1685  seemed  to  correspond. 


GALILEE   UNDER  HEROD  ANTIPAS.  259 

parted  to  Antioch,  leaving  Coponius  as  the  provincial 
governor  of  Judea.  Coponius  was  succeeded  by  Marcus 
Ambivius,  who  was  replaced  by  Annius  Rufus.  Each 
governed  Judea  for  about  a  year,  but  in  A.  D.  14  the 
Emperor  Augustus  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Tiberius, 
whose  policy,  as  regarded  the  governors  of  his  provinces, 
showed  far  more  consideration  for  his  subjects  than  that  of 
his  great  predecessor. 

He  compared  a  Roman  province  to  the  poor  man  in  a 
familiar  fable,  who,  wounded  and  bleeding,  lay  by  the 
wayside  covered  with  flies ;  a  kindly  passer-by  offered  to 
drive  them  away,  but  he  replied  :  "  These  flies  have  been 
glutted ;  drive  them  away  and  they  will  only  be  replaced  by 
a  more  hungry  swarm."  During  his  reign,  therefore,  there 
were  in  Judea  only  two  Roman  propraetors  :  Valerius  Gratus 
(  A.  D.  14),  and  Pontius  Pilate  (A.  D.  25).  The  adminis- 
tration of  Gratus  was  remarkable  chiefly  for  the  frequent 
changes  that  he  made  in  the  high-priesthood.  He  deposed 
Annas,  then  substituted  Ismael  ben  Fabi ;  then  gave  the 
office  to  Eleazar,  the  son  of  Annas,  deposed  him,  and  sub- 
stituted one  Simon  ben  Kamhith,  and  lastly,  after  these 
annual  changes,  appointed  the  son-in-law  of  Annas,  Joseph 
Caiaphas,  in  A.  D.  18.  Caiaphas  held  office  eighteen  years, 
assisted,  as  appears  from  the  New  Testament,  by  Annas, 
his  father-in-law. 

Tiberius  in  his  relations  with  the  Jews  comes  out  far 
better  than  he  does  when  we  read  of  him  in  Roman  history. 
We  do  not  know  what  induced  him  favorably  to  regard 
that  people ;  and  yet  during  his  reign,  while  he  was 
under  the  malign  influence  of  Sejanus,  a  terrible  massacre 
and  persecution  of  the  Jews  took  place  in  Rome.  Some 
scandals  connected  with  the  worship  of  Isis,  which  was 
then  becoming  fashionable  among  illustrious  Roman  women, 
caused  the  crucifixion  of  the  priests  of  the  Egyptian  god- 
dess, and  the  destruction  of  her  temple.  The  statue  of 
the  goddess  was  torn  down  and  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 
Judaism  was  also  an  Oriental  religion  ;  it  had  gained  a 
foothold  in  Roman  fashionable  life,  especially  among  Roman 


260  JUDEA. 

women.  The  Jews  were  confounded  with  the  worshippers 
of  Isis.  They  were  expelled  from  Rome,  where  they  had 
enjoyed  peculiar  privileges  from  the  days  of  Caesar.  Some 
thousands  of  their  young  men  were  drafted  into  the  army, 
and  sent  to  serve  in  Sardinia,  an  island  notorious  at  that 
day  for  its  unhealthy  climate.  But  on  the  downfall  and 
death  of  Sejanus,  Tiberius  issued  another  edict  favorable 
to  the  Jews. 

Meantime,  Herod  Antipas  in  his  Galilean  dominions 
lived  a  life  of  luxury  and  dissoluteness,  annoyed  from  time 
to  time  by  raids  of  the  outlawed  Zealots,  who  had  become 
a  turbulent  banditti,  but  whom  he  never  seems  to  have 
made  any  sustained  effort  to  put  down.  He  was  no  doubt 
also  greatly  annoyed  by  the  discontent  and  ambition  of 
Herodias,  who  had  set  her  heart  on  seeing  him  a  king. 
She  and  her  daughter  Salome  were  living  in  his  palace, 
and  the  importunities  of  Herodias  at  last  caused  him  to 
risk  the  enmity  of  Hareth  (or  Aretas)  King  of  the  Ara- 
bians, whose  dominions  touched  his  frontier  near  the 
wonderful  fortress  of  Machaerus  built  by  Herod  the  Great. 
Antipas  determined  to  divorce  his  wife,  the  daughter  of 
this  Hareth,  but  she,  having  received  warning  of  the  degra- 
dation about  to  be  put  upon  her,  requested  permission  to 
visit  her  father  on  the  frontier  of  his  dominions.  No 
sooner  had  they  met  than  Hareth  declared  war  against 
Herod.  About  this  time  occurred  the  death  of  John  the 
Baptist,  for  Herod  had  hurried  to  Machasrus  not  only  as 
his  base  of  operations  against  his  outraged  father-in-law, 
but  possibly  that  he  might  not  be  far  from  Enon,  the  spot 
where  John  was  preaching  and  baptizing,  and  where  he 
was  collecting  crowds,  who,  under  a  trusted  leader,  might 
prove  dangerous. 

He  therefore  caused  the  arrest  of  John  the  Baptist,  as 
a  matter  of  precaution,  but  being  greatly  impressed  by  his 
personality,  and  not  a  little  afraid  of  him  as  possibly  a 
successor  of  the  ancient  prophets,  he  sent  for  him  often 
to  his  presence,  and  heard  him  gladly.  John  meantime, 
though  confined  in  one  of  the  dungeons  cut  out  of  living 


GALILEE    UNDER  HEROD  ANTIPAS.  26 1 

rock,  over  which  were  built  the  royal  apartments  where 
Herod  toyed  with  his  women  and  banqueted  with  his 
officers,  was  permitted  to  hold  free  communication  with 
his  favorite  disciples,  until  the  day  came  when  Herod  on 
his  birthday  made  a  great  feast,  and  Salome,  though  a 
princess,  danced  before  him  and  his  officers.  We  know 
the  sad  remainder  of  the  story,  and  how  Herod,  though 
no  doubt  well  accustomed  to  cruelty,  laid  up  remorse, 
which  lasted  him  the  remainder  of  his  days. 

The  rash  words  which  resulted  in  John  the  Baptist's 
death  were  not  the  only  ones  which,  when  his  reason  was 
obscured  by  wine  and  revelry,  brought  Herod  into  trouble. 
We  shall  take  occasion  in  the  next  chapter  to  tell  at  length 
the  singular  story  of  Herod  Agrippa  —  father  of  the  King 
Agrippa  who  sat  on  the  judgment  seat  with  Porcius  Festus, 
and  heard  the  defence  of  Saint  Paul ;  but  a  few  words  must 
be  here  said  of  him  in  connection  with  the  fate  of  Herod 
Antipas. 

Agrippa,  the  son  of  Aristobulus  and  grandson  of  Herod 
and  Mariamne,  had  been  a  spendthrift  in  his  early  days,  but 
all  his  life  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  great.  Encum- 
bered with  debts  and  indeed  utterly  destitute,  he  left  Rome 
after  the  death  of  his  friend  Drusus,  the  son  of  Tiberius, 
because  the  emperor  could  not  bear  the  sight  of  any  man 
who  had  been  intimate  with  his  son.  After  many  adven- 
tures his  destitution  compelled  him  to  seek  help  from  his 
sister  Herodias,  then  the  wife  or  paramour  of  Herod  Anti- 
pas.  Herodias  listened  to  his  request,  and  persuaded 
Herod  to  extend  favor  and  hospitality  to  her  brother. 
Herod  even  made  him  governor  of  his  new  city  of  Tiberias. 
But  one  day,  in  his  cups,  and  surrounded  by  his  courtiers, 
he  began  to  taunt  Agrippa  with  being  the  recipient  of  his 
charity.  This  was  too  much  for  the  proud  spirit  of  a  man 
who  had  long  considered  himself  in  every  way  Herod's 
superior.  He  at  once  left  the  court  of  Galilee,  and  after 
various  changes  of  fortune,  in  the  year  37  A.  D.  returned 
from  Rome  to  the  East,  having  been  promoted  to  succeed 
Philip,  the  Tetrarch  of  Trachonitis,  with  the  additional 


262  JUDEA. 

honor  of  the  title  of  king,  and  other  marks  of  the  imperial 
favor. 

It  incensed  Herodias  to  see  the  man  who  had  once 
depended  on  herself  and  her  husband  for  daily  bread  a 
crowned  and  honored  king,  while  her  husband  was  only  a 
paltry  tetrarch.  She  therefore  importuned  Herod,  until 
he  consented  to  go  to  Rome  with  her,  endeavor  to  ruin 
his  rival,  and  at  the  same  time  obtain  like  honors  for  him- 
self. But  Agrippa,  who  well  knew  how  high  he  himself 
stood  in  the  favor  of  the  new  Emperor  Caius  (better  known 
as  Caligula),  had  little  fear  of  ruin.  He  sent  a  trusty  freed- 
man  to  the  emperor  to  make  counter  charges  against 
Herod  Antipas.  When  the  tetrarch  appeared  before 
Caligula  (not  then  insane)  he  was  questioned  concerning 
Agrippa' s  charges.  Antipas  denied  that  he  was  in  alliance 
with  the  Parthians,  but  could  not  deny  that  he  had  arms 
and  armor  for  40,000  men  laid  up  in  Sepphoris.  This 
admission  was  taken  as  a  proof  of  guilt.  Herod  Antipas 
was  banished  to  Lyons,  and  his  dominions  were  added 
to  those  of  King  Agrippa,  who  then  became  Governor  of 
the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  King  of  Galilee,  Samaria, 
and  Perea,  in  addition  to  the  districts  lying  beyond  the 
Jordan. 

All  the  wealth  of  Herod  Antipas  was  confiscated  by 
Caligula,  but  out  of  consideration  for  Herodias,  as  the 
sister  of  his  friend  Agrippa,  he  restored  to  her  her  own 
possessions,  and  offered  to  except  her  from  the  decree  of 
banishment.  But  Herodias  was  faithful  to  the  man  she  had 
twice  ruined.  She  preferred  to  follow  him  into  Gaul.  One 
Roman  writer  says  that  Herod  was  slain  by  order  of  Cali- 
gula, but  Josephus  tells  us  that  eventually  he  went  to  Spain 
and  died  in  exile. 

The  supreme  moment  of  Herod's  life  had  occurred  when, 
four  years  before  his  banishment,  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
the  Passover  and  there  stood  face  to  face  with  the  Lord  of 
Life  and  Glory.  This  man,  whom  he  had  dreaded,  of  whose 
works  and  miracles  in  Galilee  he  had  heard,  not  only  from 
common  report,  but  from  members  of  his  own  household, 


GALILEE   UNDER  HEROD  ANTIPAS.  263 

stood  before  him,  bound,  in  the  power  of  the  Roman  sol- 
diers, and  vociferously  accused  by  the  men  who  composed 
the  Great  Council  of  the  Jews.  The  life  of  this  wondrous 
prophet  hung  on  his  decision.  Herod  expected  that  he 
would  work  some  wonder  to  save  his  life,  but  Jesus  remained 
dumb.  "  Baffled  by  a  silence  more  kingly  than  his  own 
many  words,"  says  Canon  Farrar,  "the  patience  of  the 
frivolous  princeling  gave  way.  He  at  once  avenged  and 
disgraced  himself  by  handing  over  Jesus  to  the  coarse 
mockery  of  his  barbarian  body-guards.  Safe,  as  he  now 
fancied  himself,  from  supernatural  retribution,  he  treated 
Jesus  with  elaborate  contempt,  and  tried  to  make  a  mock- 
ery of  him.  So  he  sent  for  some  of  his  own  cast-off  royal 
apparel  for  the  man  who  was  accused  of  desiring  to  make 
Himself  a  king,  and  when  the  soldiers  had  arrayed  Jesus  in 
it,  he  sent  Him  back  to  Pilate,  not  venturing  to  declare 
Him  guilty,  but  with  deep  policy,  and  perhaps  one  little 
grain  of  conscience,  desiring  to  indicate  that  he  regarded 
Him  as  an  impostor,  only  worthy  of  disdainful  ridicule."  1 

1  Dean  Farrar,  The  Herods. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

PONTIUS   PILATE. 

"PONTIUS  PILATE  !  How  little  could  the  stern,  fierce 
•*-  Roman  procurator  have  foreseen,  when  he  seated 
himself  upon  his  portable  throne  of  judgment,  brought  out- 
doors to  the  Pavement  (Gabbatha)  that  the  accusing  Jews 
might  not  defile  themselves  by  entering  the  palace  of  a 
pagan  on  the  eve  of  the  Passover,  —  that  for  unnumbered 
years  his  would  be  the  sole  name  of  any  Roman  dignitary 
known  to  masses  of  the  human  race  in  all  parts  of  the  wide 
world,  —  that  children  and  uneducated  peasants  who  now 
know  nothing  of  Tiberius  Caesar,  nor  of  the  great  Augustus, 
nor  have  even  heard  of  the  Olympian  Jove,  would,  together 
with  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  repeat  weekly  —  daily  — 
from  their  earliest  infancy  the  name  of  "  Pontius  Pilate, 
the  governor ! " 

Yet  Pontius  Pilate  was  a  man  apparently  obscure  by 
birth,  of  fate  uncertain ;  and  the  world  knows  nothing  of 
his  antecedents  before  the  day  when  he  succeeded  Valerius 
Gratus  as  Procurator  of  Judea  and  Samaria,  under  the  offi- 
cial supremacy  of  Vitellius  the  Roman  legate  in  Syria,  a 
man  hardly  less  famed  for  luxury  and  gluttonness  than  his 
son,  who  afterwards,  for  a  short  time,  became  a  Roman 
emperor. 

Pontius  Pilate  belonged  to  none  of  the  Great  Roman 
families,  he  apparently  left  no  descendants,  it  is  very 
doubtful  whence  he  derived  his  names.  The  Roman  prac- 
tice was  to  write  first  what  we  should  call  the  "  given  " 
name,  then  the  family  name,  and  lastly  such  distinctive 
surname  as  the  person  himself  had  acquired.  We  do  not 
know  the  "given  name"  of  Pontius  Pilate,  but  he  must 


PONTIUS  PILATE.  26$ 

have  distinguished  himself  either  as  a  general,  or  by  per- 
sonal feats  of  arms  in  Pontus,  for  he  was  of  the  equestrian 
order. 

There  was  a  tradition  in  the  middle  ages  that  he  came 
from  Gaul ;  and  Vienne,  where  he  was  believed  to  have 
died,  was  assigned  him  as  the  place  of  his  nativity. 

Another  tradition  says  that  he  was  a  Teuton,  sent  to 
Rome  with  Tyrus,  a  captive  German,  who  was  detained 
there  as  a  hostage;  that  he  afterwards  joined  the  22d 
legion,  and  was  employed  in  wars  in  Pontus,  that  his 
name  Pilate  was  either  given  him  in  recognition  of  his 
skill  with  thepi/um,  or  javelin,  or  was  derived  from  pilatum, 
the  head-dress  worn  by  a  freed  slave. 

These  traditions  are  probably  false.  They  are  mentioned 
by  the  Roman  historian.  Pilate,  however,  was  not  an 
official  of  sufficient  consequence  to  obtain  much  personal 
attention  from  contemporary  writers. 

Appointed  by  the  influence  of  Sejanus,  the  unworthy 
favorite  of  Tiberius  Caesar,  —  a  man  who  had  a  bitter 
hatred  of  the  Jews,  Pilate  probably  entered  on  his  office 
strongly  prejudiced  against  the  nation  he  was  sent  to 
govern.  Towards  their  national  customs  and  their  Law 
"hedged  about  "  with  puerile  and  incomprehensible  tradi- 
tions, he  probably  felt,  as  some  eighteenth-century  Eng- 
lishman appointed  to  control  a  province  in  India  may  have 
felt,  in  relation  to  the  minutiae  it  was  necessary  to  observe 
in  matters  of  caste  and  religion.  He  was  resolved  to  pay 
no  heed  to  Jewish  scruples.  They  were  the  superstitious 
follies  of  fanatics.  He  would  break  them  down  at  once, 
and  he  was  determined  to  begin  by  discarding  the  more 
prudent  policy  of  his  predecessors. 

Gratus,  whom  he  succeeded,  had  had  a  comparatively 
quiet  ten  years'  administration.  He  resided  in  Caesarea,  a 
Jewish-Roman  city,  and  had  avoided  all  collision  between 
his  troops  and  the  turbulent  Zealots  of  Jerusalem.  He 
chiefly  interested  himself  in  acquiring  wealth,  and  obtained 
it  through  a  rapid  succession  of  high-priests,  of  whom  in 
ten  years  he  appointed  four,  the  last  of  whom,  as  has  been 


266  JUDEA. 

said,  was  Joseph  Caiaphas.  Each  one  obtained  his  posi- 
tion by  bribery,  records  of  which  still  remain. 

In  pursuance  of  a  policy  probably  determined  on  before- 
hand by  Pilate  and  his  patron,  the  new  procurator  decided 
to  transfer  the  headquarters  of  his  army  from  Cassarea  to 
his  own  winter  residence  at  Jerusalem.  Up  to  that  time 
the  Romans  had  refrained,  out  of  consideration  for  the 
prejudices  of  the  Jews,  from  bringing  their  eagles  into  the 
Sacred  City. 

The  Roman  standards  were  surmounted  by  an  eagle  of 
gold  or  silver,  borne  on  the  point  of  a  spear.  The  bird 
had  outspread  wings,  and  a  thunderbolt  in  its  claws ; 
below  it  on  the  ensign  were  the  letters  S.  P.  Q.  R.  (Sena- 
tus  Populus  Que  Romanus),  to  which  was  added  a  banner 
with  an  embroidered  likeness  of  the  reigning  emperor. 
When  the  army  was  on  its  march,  the  eagles  were  always 
borne  before  the  legions.  When  a  camp  was  formed  the 
eagles  were  planted  before  the  prgetorium,  —  the  tent,  or 
residence,  of  the  commanding-general.  The  eagle  on  the 
summit  of  an  ivory  staff  was  also  the  symbol  of  consular 
authority. 

To  bring  such  eagles  into  the  Holy  City  and  within  sight  of 
the  Temple,  was  to  show  contempt  for  the  Second  Command- 
ment. Pilate,  therefore,  resolved  to  begin  his  administration 
by  open  disregard  of  this  absurd  Jewish  superstition.  His 
army  entered  Jerusalem  at  night,  and  when  morning  dawned, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  awoke  to  see  the  Roman  eagles 
planted  before  the  splendid  Herodian  Palace,  which  had 
been  assigned  to  Roman  procurators  as  their  residence  in 
the  city. 

Great  was  the  rage  and  consternation  among  all  ranks 
of  the  people.  Some  wept,  some  stormed.  Pilate  had  not 
come  himself  to  Jerusalem ;  he  was  still  in  Csesarea. 
Crowds  of  Jews,  not  only  from  Jerusalem  but  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  hurried  thither,  imploring  him  to 
save  their  city  from  profanation  and  disgrace. 

For  five  days  they  howled  and  pleaded  round  his  resi- 
dence;  then  he  lost  patience.  He  ordered  them  to 


PONTIUS  PILATE.  267 

assemble  in  an  open  square,  surrounded  them  with  his  sol- 
diers, and  mounting  a  rostrum  made  them  a  speech.  He 
told  them  that  if  they  did  not  instantly  return  to  Jerusalem, 
and  leave  him  in  peace,  he  would  order  his  cohorts  to  cut 
them  down.  These  troops  were  ready  at  hand,  lying  in 
wait  with  weapons  concealed  under  their  mantles.  But 
the  Jews,  inspired  with  the  spirit  of  the  Maccabees,  an- 
swered the  procurator  that  they  would  rather  die  than 
sanction  idolatry  and  disobedience  to  the  commandment 
of  their  God.  As  the  soldiers  advanced  to  slay  them  they 
fell  on  the  ground,  laid  their  necks  bare,  and  prepared  to 
receive  the  death-stroke. 

Then  Pilate  relented.  Either  he  began  to  consider  what 
a  revolt  his  massacre  of  this  large  body  of  supplicants  would 
raise  throughout  Judea,  or  a  certain  natural  kind-hearted- 
ness in  him  was  stirred  ;  for,  like  Louis  Napoleon  in  our  own 
day,  he  was  apparently  averse  to  bloodshed  committed  in 
his  presence,  though  insensible  to  what  might  be  spilt  by 
his  orders  elsewhere  ;  lastly,  —  perhaps  most  probably,  — 
a  deputation  at  that  opportune  moment  reached  him  from 
Jerusalem,  bearing  a  large  bribe  from  men  of  wealth  and 
influence.  By  whatever  motive  he  may  have  been  moved 
(Josephus  thinks  it  was  by  admiration  for  the  courage  and 
constancy  of  the  Jews),  he  appeared  to  relent,  and  ordered 
the  offensive  standards  to  be  removed  from  Jerusalem. 

His  next  outrage  to  Jewish  feeling  was  in  connection 
with  his  undertaking  a  work  which  we  of  the  nineteenth 
century  cannot  but  consider  praiseworthy.  He  began  to 
construct  an  aqueduct  to  bring  a  supply  of  water  about 
twenty-five  miles l  into  Jerusalem.  This  should  have  been 
considered  a  beneficial  public  enterprise,  but  he  resolved 
to  appropriate  to  the  work  part  of  the  treasures  laid  up  in 
the  Temple.  Some  portion  of  the  sum  obtained  ostensibly 
for  this  purpose,  the  excited  population  of  Jerusalem  was 
confident  he  would  transfer  to  his  own  purse.  They  as- 
sembled before  him  as  he  was  seated  in  state  on  his  tribu- 

1  Graetz  says,  from  a  spring  four  geographical  miles  from 
Jerusalem. 


268  JUDEA. 

nal.  They  accused  him  of  peculation,  and  overwhelmed 
him  with  abuse.  Again  Pilate's  patience  gave  way.  He 
made  a  signal  to  his  soldiers  to  go  in  among  the  crowd, 
and  compel  them  by  force  to  disperse.  The  soldiers,  in- 
flamed by  hatred  against  the  Jews,  and  exasperated  by  the 
insults  that  the  populace  had  heaped  upon  their  general, 
showed  no  mercy.  They  butchered  the  people  right  and 
left. 

Such  tumults  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  Josephus, 
Saint  Luke,  and  the  Talmud,  mention  several.  In  all  such 
riots  the  Galilean  Zealots,  who  were  in  large  numbers  at 
Jerusalem,  took  a  leading  part.  Pilate  complained  of  this 
to  Herod  Antipas,  but  Herod  was  quite  incapable  of  con- 
trolling his  fanatical  subjects,  and  Pilate  therefore  took  upon 
himself  to  act  with  authority  in  Galilee,  at  which  Herod 
was  indignant,  and  it  led  to  much  ill  will  between  tetrarch 
and  procurator. 

It  was  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius 
Caesar,  in  the  consulship  of  Rufinius  and  Rubellio  (for  a 
show  of  consulship  was  still  kept  up  in  Rome)  in  the  4th 
year  of  the  2O2d  Olympiad  and  probably  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  A.  D.  33  or  34  (as  we  reckon  time),  that  occurred 
the  great  event  of  Pilate's  life.  It  is  not  my  place  to  enter 
at  large  into  the  terrible  story  that  we  all  know  so  well. 

Pilate  had  come  up  to  the  Passover  at  Jerusalem  dread- 
ing a  tumult,  for  which  he  was  not  well  prepared.  He 
was  not  accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  soldiers,  and  he 
seems  to  have  sent  to  his  superior,  Vitellius,  for  reinforce- 
ments, which  did  not  arrive.  Vitellius  was  unfriendly  to 
Pilate ;  he  blamed  him  for  not  preventing  tumults  in  Jeru- 
salem by  conciliating  the  chief-priests  and  the  leaders  of 
the  people,  —  a  policy  he  himself  subsequently  adopted, 
when,  a  few  years  later,  he  undertook  the  management  of 
the  affairs  of  the  Jews. 

Many  have  wondered  why,  since  the  Sanhedrim  after- 
wards ordered  the  stoning  of  St.  Stephen,  it  did  not  execute 
sentence  on  our  Saviour,  without  handing  him  over  to  the 
authority  of  the  Romans.  It  has  been  suggested  that  pos- 


PONTIUS  PILATE.  269 

sibly  the  Sanhedrim  had  not  the  power  of  life  and  death 
while  a  procurator  was  resident  in  Jerusalem ;  but  the  more 
probable  reason  is  that,  by  their  law,  cases  involving  the 
death  sentence  could  only  have  that  sentence  pronounced 
by  the  Great  Council  sitting  within  the  limits  of  the  Temple. 
Jesus,  as  we  know,  was  "led  away  to  Annas  first,"  and  then 
afterwards  had  his  first  trial  before  the  priests  and  elders 
(that  is,  the  Sanhedrim)  in  the  house  of  Caiaphas. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Pilate  made  an 
official  report  on  the  subject  of  our  Lord's  crucifixion  to 
the  Roman  authorities,  and  there  is  also  reason  to  think 
that  he  wrote  privately  an  account  of  it  to  the  emperor. 
The  emperors  were  in  the  habit  of  receiving  such  letters 
from  officials  in  the  provinces.  Herod  Antipas  at  one  time 
carried  on  a  voluminous  private  correspondence  with  Tibe- 
rius, and  thereby  incurred  the  rage  and  jealousy  of  the 
Roman  legate  in  Syria. 

The  documents  called  the  "  Acts  of  Pilate  "  were  ap- 
pealed to  by  Justin  Martyr  in  confirmation  of  his  state- 
ments concerning  Christ,  when  he  made  his  Apology  for 
himself  and  his  fellow-Christians  before  the  Emperor  Anto- 
ninus Pius  and  the  Senate  at  Rome  (about  A.  D.  140). 
Three  times  he  alludes  to  these  documents  as  state  papers 
that  could  be  easily  consulted  by  those  whom  he  ad- 
dressed. When  speaking  of  the  miraculous  works  of  heal- 
ing done  by  Christ,  and  of  wonders  that  accompanied  the 
crucifixion,  he  says  :  "  And  we  can  learn  from  the  Acts 
composed  during  the  governorship  of  Pontius  Pilate  that 
these  things  really  happened." 

Again,  "That  He  performed  all  these  things  you  may 
easily  be  satisfied  from  the  Acts  of  Pontius  Pilate." 

Forty  years  later,  Tertullian,  speaking  of  the  crucifixion, 
says  :  "  All  this  was  reported  to  the  emperor,  at  that  time 
Tiberius,  by  Pilate." 

And  Eusebius,  writing  at  the  close  of  the  third  century, 
says  also :  "  According  to  an  ancient  custom  prevalent 
among  the  rulers  of  the  nations  to  communicate  important 
occurrences  to  the  emperor,  Pontius  Pilate  transmitted 


270  JUDEA. 

to  Tiberius  an  account  of  the  circumstances  concerning  the 
resurrection  of  our  Lord." 

There  must  therefore  have  been  state  papers  in  existence 
at  one  time  containing  Pilate's  account  of  the  execution  of  our 
Saviour.  But  in  the  year  311  when  the  Emperor  Maximian 
was  engaged  in  persecuting  the  Christians,  he  caused  forged 
"  Acts  of  Pilate  "  to  be  distributed  throughout  his  empire, 
to  cast  discredit  on  the  statements  made  by  Christians.  It 
is  probable  that  the  original  report  and  letters  were  then 
destroyed. 

The  "  Acts  of  Pilate  "  that  subsequently  long  circulated 
among  the  early  Christians,  and  were  incorporated  into 
the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus,  probably  are  not  genuine.  It 
seems  as  if  some  Christian,  regretting  the  disappearance 
of  the  real  documents,  had  endeavored  to  supply  their 
place  from  his  remembrance,  supplementing  his  own  recollec- 
tion by  passages  extracted  from  the  Gospel  of  Saint  John. 
I  think  this  will  seem  clear  to  any  one  who  reads  the  "  Acts 
of  Pilate."  They  were  translated  and  published  by  W.  O. 
Clough  of  Indianapolis  in  1885,  under  the  title  of  "  Reports, 
Letters  and  Acts  of  Pontius  Pilate."  When  first  brought 
to  general  notice  by  the  learned  Dr.  Constantine  Tischen- 
dorf,  who  died  in  1874,  and  who  believed  them  to  be 
genuine,  they  were  exhaustively  reviewed  by  Dr.  Lardner, 
who  decided  that  "  it  must  be  allowed  by  all  that  Pontius 
Pilate  composed  some  memoirs  concerning  our  Saviour, 
and  sent  them  to  the  emperor,"  but,  he  adds,  "  the  '  Acts 
of  Pontius  Pilate '  and  his  letters  to  Tiberius  which  we  now 
have  are  not  genuine,  but  manifestly  spurious." 

With  respect  to  the  later  administration  of  Pilate,  there 
is  little  more  to  be  said.  Before  the  Passover  in  the  year 
36  he  was  deposed  by  Vitellius,  Legate  of  Syria,  and  sent 
in  disgrace  to  be  examined  at  Rome.  This  time  he  had 
stirred  up  the  enmity  of  the  Samaritans,  a  people  for  the 
most  part  patiently  submissive  under  Roman  rule,  but  they 
were  greatly  excited  about  this  time  by  a  fanatical  impostor, 
who  said  it  had  been  revealed  to  him  that  Moses  (who 
never  crossed  the  Jordan)  had  hidden  certain  golden  vessels 


PONTIUS  PILATE.  2/1 

upon  Mount  Gerizim.  Armed  multitudes  collected  to  search 
for  these  vessels,  and  Pilate,  dreading  disturbances  in  a  new 
quarter,  sent  soldiers  to  disperse  them.  As  usual,  the 
soldiery  interpreted  their  orders  to  mean  official  leave  to 
massacre.  They  attacked  the  village  in  which  the  Samari- 
tan treasure-seekers  had  bivouacked,  and  destroyed  it 
utterly.  Many  were  killed  and  numbers  were  made 
prisoners.  Pilate  selected  every  man  of  note  or  wealth, 
and  had  all  of  them  beheaded.  The  provincial  government 
of  Samaria  made  bitter  complaints  to  Vitellius,  who  was 
quite  disposed  to  listen  to  them,  especially  as  Sejanus,  the 
patron  of  Pilate,  was  now  dead. 

Vitellius  had  the  year  before  gone  himself  to  Jerusalem, 
and  had  there  not  only  gained  the  good-will  of  the  priests 
and  elders  by  what  they  considered  a  concession  of 
immense  value,  but  that  of  the  inhabitants  by  a  remission 
of  taxes.  The  concession  was  the  custody  of  the  official 
garments  of  the  high-priest,  without  which  he  could  not 
be  inaugurated.  These  had  for  many  years  been  kept  in 
a  room  locked  and  guarded  in  the  castle  of  Antonia, 
whence  they  were  delivered  to  the  priests  a  week  before 
the  installation  of  a  new  high-priest,  and  returned  by  them 
after  the  ceremony.  Vitellius  permitted  them  to  be  stored 
in  a  chamber  of  the  Temple,  to  the  immense  satisfaction 
of  the  whole  nation  of  the  Jews.  He  also  deposed  Caiaphas, 
and  replaced  him  by  a  son  of  Annas  named  Jonathan. 

When  Pilate,  after  his  removal  from  office,  reached 
Rome,  Tiberius  was  dead.  He  remained  some  time  in 
prison  ;  his  cause  was  apparently  never  heard.  Then  he 
was  banished,  as  Herod  Antipas  had  been,  to  Vienne  in 
Dauphine".  One  wonders  if  they  met  there,  and  spoke 
together  of  the  terrible  event  in  which  they  had  been 
associated  ! 

Tradition  says  that  Pilate  committed  suicide.  A  legend 
connects  his  fate  with  a  mountain,  Mount  Pilatus,  near 
Lucerne.  It  is  said  that,  overwhelmed  by  remorse,  —  and  if 
we  may  accept  the  feelings  expressed  in  his  letter  to  Tibe- 
rius as  at  all  genuine,  he  may  have  spent  his  latter  days 


2/2  JUDEA. 

as  a  victim  of  supernatural  terrors,  —  he  lived  as  a  hermit 
for  some  time  on  the  mountain,  and  at  last  drowned  him- 
self in  a  small  lake  on  the  summit,  probably  the  crater  of 
an  extinct  volcano. 

Execrated  as  his  memory  has  been  by  both  Jews  and 
Christians,  we  can  hardly  at  this  day  consider  him  a  worse 
man  than  other  officials  of  his  class  and  time.  Under  the 
influence  of  personal  fear,  —  fear  of  Vitellius,  fear  of  the 
emperor,  and  fear  of  the  Jews,  —  he  ordered,  against  his 
conscience,  the  execution  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind.  But 
his  conduct  on  the  occasion  was  less  abominable  than  that 
of  the  priests  and  elders  composing  the  Sanhedrim.  The 
blood  of  Jesus  rests  upon  their  heads,  and  it  is  thus  that 
the  apostles  always  speak  of  it,  extenuating  so  far  as  they 
may,  the  conduct  of  Pontius  Pilate. 

He  made  eight  separate  efforts  to  save  Jesus.  First,  he 
took  Him  apart  into  the  Prsetorium,  leaving  the  howling 
crowd  of  His  accusers  on  the  "  Pavement,"  and  examined 
Him  privately  as  to  who  he  was.  Secondly,  finding  that  He 
came  from  Galilee,  he  tried  to  shake  off  responsibility,  and 
perhaps  give  the  prisoner  a  better  chance  for  life,  by  send- 
ing Him  to  Herod.  Thirdly,  when  Herod  sent  Him  back 
as  an  impostor,  having  evidently  been  relieved  of  the  fear 
he  had  entertained  of  Him,  Pilate  offered  to  scourge  Him 
and  release  Him.  Fourthly,  he  proposed  to  substitute  Him 
for  Barabbas.  Fifthly,  he  washed  his  hands  before  the 
multitude,  and  declared  the  prisoner  innocent.  Sixthly,  he 
directed  Him  to  be  scourged,  and  brought  Him  forth, 
bleeding,  and  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns,  to  excite  if 
possible  the  pity  of  His  accusers.  Seventhly,  he  took  Him 
apart  for  another  private  interview ;  but  this  time  Jesus 
would  not  answer  any  of  his  questions.  Eighthly  he  made 
a  last  appeal,  and  was  answered  by  the  cry,  "  If  thou  let 
this  man  go,  thou  art  not  Caesar's  friend  !  " 

This  decided  him ;  but  he  was  bitterly  resentful  against 
the  hated  men  who  had  forced  him  to  violate  not  only  his 
conscience,  but  his  sense  of  justice  as  understood  at  Rome. 

Pilate's  wife  was  named  Procula.     We  know  nothing  of 


CALIGULA. 


PONTIUS  PILATE.  2/3 

her  face,  nor  of  her  history.  It  was  at  one  time  decreed 
that  an  imperial  permission  was  necessary  to  make  it  pos- 
sible for  a  Roman  official  to  take  his  wife  with  him  to  the 
provinces ;  but  this  rule  had  been  relaxed,  and,  without 
being  abrogated,  was  commonly  forgotten. 

We  have  here  presented  the  best  case  possible  for  the 
man  who  outraged  justice  and  conscience  from  base  fear. 
To  be  sure  "  in  ignorance  he  did  it,"  though  he  was  awed 
by  the  majesty  of  Jesus,  and  was  deeply  conscious  that 
he  himself  was  basely  doing  wrong.  All  men  for  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  have  never  spoken  of  him  but  with 
opprobrium. 

Tacitus  says  that,  by  orders  from  Pontius  Pilate,  Christ, 
the  founder  of  the  Christian  sect,  was  executed.  Philo 
accuses  Pilate  of  corruption,  insolence,  rapine,  violence, 
incessant  murders  without  even  the  formality  of  a  trial, 
and  in  general  with  endless  and  intolerable  cruelties. 
King  Agrippa  the  First  bitterly  accused  hirn  before 
Caligula  as  inflexible,  imperious,  and  implacably  harsh. 
Josephus  speaks  of  him  with  equal  bitterness.  Since  this 
is  the  character  given  of  him  by  both  Jews  and  pagans,  we 
need  not  wonder  that  Christians  of  the  middle  ages  exe- 
crated his  memory.  Indeed,  the  mildest  judgments  that 
have  been  passed  on  him  have  been  by  an  apostle  and  by 
modern  Christians. 

Here  is  how  his  character  is  summed  up  in  a  sermon  on 
"Pontius  Pilate  the  Governor":1  "What  forced  him  to 
deliver  Jesus  to  be  crucified?  The  mass  of  the  Jews,  both 
mob  and  rulers,  rising  about  him  in  fierce  tumult,  and  the 
words,  '  If  thou  let  this  man  go,  thou  art  not  Caesar's 
friend;  ' -  —  this  forced  him;  this  rumor  he  feared,  for  he 
was  already  an  unpopular  ruler,  and  he  dreaded  his  jealous 
master  at  Rome  :  so  he  gave  way.  He  gave  way,  but  with 
no  little  feeling  against  the  wretches  who  had  forced  his 
conscience  ;  and  though  he  had,  I  think,  some  real  sense 
of  the  intrinsic  dignity  of  Christ,  and  had  certainly  a  bitter 

1  In  a  volume  called  "  Bible  Characters,"  by  Alexander  G.  Mercer, 
D.D.,  published  by  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  in  1885. 

18 


2/4  JUDEA. 

hatred  and  contempt  for  the  Jews,  a  hate  sharpened  by  his 
fears,  he  must  do  it,  he  thinks,  and  he  does  it.  Still,  he  will 
wreak  his  bitterness  on  them  in  some  way.  So  he  takes 
the  man  they  have  cast  out  as  a  malefactor,  and  proclaims 
him  before  them  all  as  their  king.  '  Behold  your  king  ! ' 
This  bleeding,  pitiable  man  is  a  fit  king  for  you.  '  Shall 
I  crucify  your  king  ? '  he  asks  them  with  a  sneer.  And 
lastly,  he  set  upon  the  cross  these  words,  written  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  (the  only  languages  in  that  day  in  the 
whole  civilized  world)  :  '  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  King  of  the 
Jews  !  '  " 

These  views  of  Pilate's  fears  and  feelings  are  in  exact 
accordance  with  what  we  find  in  the  Report  and  letters 
attributed  to  the  procurator  himself  in  the  "  Acts  of  Pontius 
Pilate." 

We  cannot,  I  think,  accept  these  "  Acts  of  Pilate,"  as  we 
have  them,  as  original  documents,  but  we  may  at  least  be- 
lieve that  they  are  founded  on  true  documents  that  were 
known  to  exist  in  the  early  ages  of  Christianity,  —  state 
papers  that  were  destroyed  or  lost  by  about  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  century  after  the  death  of  Jesus. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

KING    HEROD    AGRIPPA. 

HPHE  history  of  Herod  Agrippa  is  a  singular  one  to 
•*•  be  met  with  in  connection  with  Bible  narratives. 
He  was  a  man  of  fashion,  who  overtopped  his  countrymen  ; 
a  courtier  who  stood  high  in  the  favor  of  three  emperors ; 
a  man  of  cultivated  tastes ;  of  amiable  disposition ;  a  de- 
lightful companion ;  admired  and  appreciated  in  the  highest 
circles  of  Roman  society ;  a  reckless  spendthrift,  careless 
of  incurring  debts  ;  a  Jew  who,  although  he  was  always  loyal 
to  the  observances  of  his  national  religion,  was  probably 
wholly  wanting  in  religious  faith  and  feeling.  His  life  was 
full  of  adventures,  of  changes  of  fortune,  as  surprising  as 
those  in  a  fairy  tale ;  he  sank  suddenly  into  extreme  pov- 
erty, and  rose  as  suddenly  to  wealth ;  insult  and  contempt 
he  exchanged  for  honors  and  popularity;  he  was  suddenly 
delivered  from  chains,  and  from  the  prospect  of  immediate 
death,  to  enjoy  kingly  dignity.  Everywhere  he  made  friends 
by  the  charm  of  his  manners,  and  the  desire  which  at  all 
times  possessed  him  of  doing  what  would  be  best  pleasing  to 
the  men  around  him,  and  at  last  upon  the  very  soil  where  he 
had  been  cruelly  taunted  with  his  poverty  and  dependence, 
he  appeared  at  some  public  spectacle  so  gorgeously  arrayed 
and  so  noble  of  presence,  that  his  flatterers  shouted  as  he 
addressed  them  :  "  '  It  is  the  voice  of  a  god  and  not  of  a 
man  ! '  And  immediately  an  angel  (messenger)  of  the 
Lord  smote  him,  because  he  gave  not  God  the  glory ;  and 
he  was  eaten  of  worms  and  gave  up  the  ghost." 

"  We  see  him,"  says  Canon  Farrar,  in  his  recent  book 
upon  the  Herods,  "  pass  at  a  bound  from  squalor  to 
splendor,  and  back  again  from  splendor  to  squalor ;  now  in 


2/6  JUDEA. 

the  plethora  of  wealth,  now  driven  to  the  verge  of  suicide 
by  abject  poverty.  We  see  him  in  contact  with  many  of 
the  chief  cities,  and  many  of  the  chief  personages  of  his 
age ;  now  grossly  insulted  at  Alexandria,  and  now  raptur- 
ously applauded  at  Jerusalem ;  running  away  at  Jamnia 
from  debts  that  he  could  not  pay,  and  then  deciding  the 
whole  destiny  of  the  empire  of  Rome ;  contumeliously  im- 
prisoned by  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  and  extravagantly  hon- 
ored by  the  Emperor  Caligula ;  acting  as  a  Gentile  in  the 
amphitheatre  at  Berytus,  and  as  a  Pharisee  in  the  Temple  at 
Jerusalem ;  beheading  James  the  Apostle  for  belief  in 
Christ,  and  himself  saluted  as  a  god  at  Tyre." 

Herod  Agrippa  was  a  prince  of  the  Asmonean  family; 
he  belonged  also  to  the  family  of  Herod.  He  was  grand- 
son of  the  unhappy  Mariamne,  the  child  of  her  son  Aris- 
tobulus,  after  whose  execution  by  his  father,  Herod  Agrippa 
and  his  baby  brother  were  sent  to  be  educated  at  Rome. 
Their  father  Aristobulus  had  married  his  cousin  Berenice, 
daughter  of  Herod's  wicked  sister  Salome.  Salome's  hus- 
band was  an  Arabian  prince,  Joseph  Costobarus.  Agrippa 
was  therefore  the  son  of  first  cousins,  and  he  married 
Cypros,  his  own  first  cousin,  who  was  the  offspring  of 
another  intermarriage  between  very  near  relations. 

The  children  of  Aristobulus  and  his  wife  Berenice,  were 
Herod  Agrippa,  an  Aristobulus  of  whom  we  know  very 
little,  Herod,  afterwards  king  of  Calchis,  and  one  daughter, 
Herodias. 

When  Aristobulus  had  been  put  to  death,  Berenice  and 
her  children  sought  refuge  in  Rome.  Agrippa  was  then 
about  six  years  old.  Antonia,  widow  of  Drusus,  the 
brother  of  Tiberius,  a  man  of  tried  worth  and  a  distinguished 
general,  was  the  attached  friend  of  Berenice,  who,  in  spite 
of  her  descent  from  Salome,  seems  to  have  been  a  woman 
of  virtue  and  capacity.  The  young  Jewish  prince  became 
the  playmate  and  companion  of  young  Drusus,  the  son  of 
Tiberius,  a  lad  about  his  own  age.  Agrippa,  after  the  death 
of  his  mother  Berenice,  who  superintended  his  affairs, 
found  himself  without  restraint,  a  young  man  of  fashion, 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  277 

delighting  in  expense,  and  he  began  at  once  to  indulge  his 
natural  taste  for  profusion  and  the  gratification  of  his 
vanity.  The  sums  expended  by  courtiers  and  leading  men 
in  Rome,  on  feasts  and  bribes  and  self-indulgences,  seem  per- 
fectly astounding  to  us  in  modern  times.  Agrippa  exceeded 
other  men  in  his  extravagance.  We  know  from  one  of  the 
Epistles  of  Horace  that  Jews  of  wit,  talent,  and  position 
were  at  that  time  admitted  to  the  intimacy  of  leading  men 
in  Rome.  Things  changed  after  the  downfall  of  Jerusalem. 
Jews  were  then  held  to  be  "the  scum  of  slavery"  —  ser- 
vants of  a  Deity  who  had  shown  no  ability  to  defend  His 
Temple  and  Himself  from  the  power  of  the  mighty 
majesty  of  Rome.  But  Agrippa,  by  reason  of  the  extrava- 
gance which  he  deemed  necessary  to  keep  up  his  dignity 
and  position,  became  at  last  deeply  involved  in  debt,  and 
borrowed  from  the  imperial  treasury  three  hundred  thou- 
sand drachmae,  about  $48,000.  The  death  of  young  Drusus 
the  son  of  Tiberius,  was  a  deep  grief  to  his  imperial  father. 
He  could  not  endure  the  presence  of  any  of  the  young  men 
who  had  been  the  companions  and  associates  of  his  lost 
son.  Agrippa,  finding  himself  excluded  from  court,  and 
reduced  to  actual  penury,  despairing,  and  dispossessed  of 
all  that  as  he  thought  made  life  desirable,  determined  to 
seek  a  hiding  place  in  his  own  country.  He  owned  a 
ruined  castle  in  Idumea.  Thither  he  repaired  with  his 
wife  Cypros,  who  like  all  persons  admitted  to  his  intimacy 
was  devotedly  attached  to  him.  Herod  Agrippa  during 
this  time  of  seclusion  in  Idumea  had  thought  of  commit- 
ting suicide,  but  by  his  wife's  entreaties,  tender  care,  and 
fond  caresses,  he  was  persuaded  to  live  longer,  and  to  look 
forward  to  some  change  of  fortune.  Then  Cypros,  appar- 
ently on  her  own  responsibility,  wrote  to  Herodias,  her 
sister-in-law,  now  the  wife  of  Herod  Antipas,  Tetrarch  of 
Galilee,  entreating  assistance  for  her  husband.  The  help 
thus  solicited  was  not  long  in  reaching  the  impoverished 
pair.  Herod  Antipas  sent  for  Agrippa  to  come  and  live 
with  him  in  Galilee,  relieved  his  immediate  wants,  and 
made  him  governor  of  Tiberius.  But  Herod  Antipas  and 


2/8  JUDEA. 

his  wife  Herodias  knew  neither  delicacy  nor  generosity. 
While  at  a  great  banquet  at  Tyre  surrounded  by  his  officers 
and  courtiers,  Herod,  in  his  cups,  began  to  taunt  his  brilliant 
brother-in-law  with  his  poverty,  — asserting  to  his  face  that 
he  owed  his  very  food  to  charity.  This  insult  was  intoler- 
able to  a  man  of  the  abilities  and  antecedents  of  Agrippa. 
He  flung  off  his  dependence  upon  Herod,  renounced  with 
disdain  his  favors  and  his  bounty,  and  made  his  way  into 
Syria,  where  Flaccus  was  then  legate,  or  governor-general. 
With  Flaccus  he  had  formerly  been  intimate  at  Rome. 
But  to  "climb  another's  stairs,  and  eat  the  bread  of 
dependence  watered  by  salt  tears,"  was  as  hard  for  Agrippa 
as  for  Dante.  Flaccus  received  him  kindly  as  a  suppliant, 
and  invited  him  to  reside  in  his  own  palace,  where  was 
already  a  son  of  his  father,  Aristobulus  by  name.  There 
was  no  good-will  between  these  brothers,  and  Aristobulus 
out  of  jealousy  betrayed  to  Flaccus  a  scheme  Agrippa 
had  formed  of  getting  money  out  of  certain  suppliants  who 
were  willing  to  offer  him  a  large  bribe  to  support  their 
cause  in  an  appeal  to  the  Syrian  governor.  This  brought 
on  a  quarrel  between  Flaccus  and  Agrippa,  and  it  led  to 
the  expulsion  of  the  unwelcome  guest  from  Antioch. 
Agrippa,  again  a  needy  fugitive,  went  to  Ptolemais  (Acre), 
where  he  endeavored  to  raise  money  to  pay  his  passage  to 
Italy  ;  and  Marsyas,  his  freedman,  managed  to  procure  from 
another  wealthy  freedman,  who  had  been  formerly  the  slave 
of  Berenice,  a  considerable  sum.  Agrippa's  credit,  however, 
was  at  a  low  ebb,  and  his  reputation  for  loose  transactions 
in  money  matters  was  so  notorious  that  the  freedman  to 
whom  Marsyas  applied  refused  at  first  to  lend  anything  to 
his  principal,  asserting  that  Agrippa  already  owed  him  money 
on  a  bond,  that  he  could  not  make  him  pay.  At  last,  how- 
ever, he  was  persuaded  to  cash  Agrippa's  note  for  20,000 
drachmae,  deducting,  however,  2500  drachmae  as  interest 
on  the  loan  at  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent.  With  this 
money  (about  $3000)  Agrippa  went  to  Anthedon,  another 
seaport  on  the  coast  of  Palestine,  and  embarked  for 
Puteoli.  But  before  his  ship  could  put  to  sea  he  was 


KING  HEROD  AGRTPPA.  2/9 

stopped  by  a  band  of  soldiers  sent  by  Herennius  Capito, 
the  Roman  governor  of  a  neighboring  district,  to  demand 
payment  of  a  debt  of  three  hundred  thousand  drachmae, 
which  some  years  before,  at  Rome,  Agrippa  had  borrowed 
from  the  imperial  treasury.  Agrippa  promised  to  settle 
the  matter  at  once,  and,  having  by  this  means  gained  a  few 
hours,  he  slipped  at  night  out  of  the  harbor  of  Anthedon, 
and  by  morning  was  beyond  pursuit.  He  sailed  for  Alex- 
andria; there  he  desired  Tiberius  Alexander,  an  apostate 
Jew,  then  Roman  governor  in  Egypt,  to  lend  him  200,000 
drachmae.  But  Tiberius,  mistrustful  of  Agrippa's  ability  to 
repay  this  sum,  would  only  lend  five  talents  to  Cypros ; 
moved,  as  he  said,  by  her  affection  for  her  husband,  and  by 
other  instances  of  her  virtue.  Cypros,  having  thus  relieved 
Agrippa's  immediate  necessities,  saw  him  depart  for  Italy, 
while  she  remained  in  Egypt,  with  her  children. 

When  Agrippa  reached  Puteoli,  he  wrote  to  Tiberius  who 
was  then  at  Caprese.  Tiberius  received  his  letter  graciously, 
and  invited  him  to  join  him,  but  the  day  after  he  had 
been  kindly  received  by  the  emperor,  Herennius  Capito 
arrived,  to  charge  him  with  his  unseemly  evasion  of  his 
debt,  and  with  his  surreptitious  departure  from  Anthedon. 

In  this  strait  Agrippa  was  saved  from  poverty  and  dis- 
grace by  Antonia,  his  mother's  friend,  niece  of  Augustus 
Caesar,  and  widow  of  Drusus,  the  brother  of  Tiberius. 
She  lent  the  young  spendthrift  three  hundred  thousand 
drachmae,  that  he  might  not  lose  the  friendship  of  the 
emperor. 

This  matter  being  settled,  Agrippa  was  made  tutor  and 
especial  companion  to  young  Tiberius,  son  of  his  early 
friend  Drusus,  the  lost  and  lamented  son  of  the  unhappy 
emperor  ;  but  he  attached  himself  by  preference  to  Caius 
(Caligula)  grandson  of  Antonia,  —  son  of  Germanicus,  now 
dead  and  much  lamented.  He  formed  a  close  friendship 
with  this  young  man,  —  who  was  not  then  the  insane  moji- 
ster  who  afterwards  disgraced  the  throne  of  Augustus,  — 
and  they  were  constantly  together. 

It  was  a  time  when  base  informers  made  large  profits, 


280  JUDEA. 

and  the  ears  of  the  great  were  constantly  assailed  by  tale- 
bearers. Driving  one  day  with  Caius  in  a  chariot,  Agrippa 
chanced  to  remark  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for  Rome, 
and  for  themselves,  too,  if  the  old  emperor  were  dead,  and 
if  Caius  were  his  successor.  These  words  were  overheard 
by  Eutychus,  Agrippa's  charioteer.  This  man,  being  after- 
wards accused  by  his  master  of  theft,  ran  away,  and  being 
apprehended,  begged  to  be  examined  before  Caesar,  to 
whom  he  had  something  very  important  to  communicate. 

It  was  some  time  before  Tiberius,  who  hated  this  busi- 
ness of  hearing  charges,  would  examine  Eutychus ;  but  at 
length  one  day  when  he  was  being  carried  round  the  am- 
phitheatre at  Caprese  in  his  litter  for  air  and  exercise, 
Antonia  begged  him  to  put  an  end  to  the  anxiety  of 
Agrippa,  by  hearing  what  Eutychus  wished  to  communi- 
cate. Tiberius,  rather  testily,  sent  for  Eutychus,  heard 
him,  and  then  went  on  his  way,  borne  in  his  litter.  As  he 
passed  the  spot  where  Agrippa  was  standing,  clad  in  purple 
robes,  he  pointed  to  him,  and  gave  the  order,  "  Bind  that 
man  !  "  The  officer  to  whom  he  spoke  could  not  believe 
his  ears.  He  waited  till  the  emperor  was  again  borne 
past,  and  then  asked,  "  Which  man  ?  " 

In  vain  Agrippa  made  protests  and  supplications;  he 
was  taken  into  custody,  and  forced  to  stand  in  scorching 
summer  sunshine  before  the  prison  gates,  like  any  other 
prisoner.  Overpowered  by  the  heat,  and  by  the  unforeseen 
misery  of  his  situation,  he  begged  a  slave,  who  passed  him 
with  some  water  in  a  vessel,  to  let  him  drink.  The  man 
at  once  complied.  Agrippa  never  forgot  this  service. 
When  he  was  restored  to  freedom  and  prosperity,  he 
bought  the  slave,  set  him  at  liberty,  made  him  his  steward, 
and  on  his  death-bed  commended  him  to  his  children,  in 
whose  service  the  man  acquired  wealth,  and  died  at  a 
good  old  age. 

There  was  another  incident  which  occurred  the  same 
day,  and  is  related  by  Josephus,  who  from  his  intimacy 
with  Agrippa  II.  (son  of  Herod  Agrippa)  is  probably  quite 
correct  in  these  personal  biographical  particulars. 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  28 1 

A  German  who  was  among  the  prisoners,  seeing  a  man 
bound,  standing  in  purple  robes  worn  only  by  princes, 
asked  the  soldiers  who  kept  him  who  that  person  was. 
Being  told  that  it  was  Prince  Agrippa  he  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  speak  to  him,  and  this  being  granted,  he  ex- 
horted his  fellow-sufferer  to  cheer  up,  for  his  calamity 
would  not  be  of  long  duration.  He  claimed  the  gift  of 
second-sight,  and  assured  the  astonished  prince,  who  was 
not  inclined  to  believe  him,  that  he  would  thereafter  enjoy 
good  fortune  and  happiness,  until  the  day  when  he  should 
again  see  a  bird  like  that,  —  here  he  pointed  to  a  small 
owl  perched  in  the  branches  of  a  tree  against  which  the 
prince  was  leaning.  When  such  a  bird  should  be  seen  by 
him  again,  he  would  die  five  days  later.  This  prophecy 
had  at  least  the  effect  of  restoring  Agrippa's  cheerfulness. 
He  laughed  at  it  at  the  time,  but  well  remembered  the 
prediction  when,  eight  years  later,  he  saw  the  owl  again, 
perched  on  a  rope  over  his  head,  at  a  moment  when  he 
seemed  to  himself  and  to  others  to  be  at  the  very  height 
of  his  prosperity. 

Antonia  dared  not  make  fresh  supplications  to  Caesar  on 
behalf  of  her  protegk ;  all  she  could  do  was  to  give  secret 
orders  that  he  should  have  every  privilege  that  could  allevi- 
ate captivity.  The  centurion  who  had  him  in  charge  was 
bribed  to  treat  him  with  indulgence  and  consideration. 

For  months  Agrippa  remained  in  suspense  as  to  his  fate, 
not  knowing  but  that  any  hour  might  bring  the  order  for 
his  execution.  The  emperor  lay  ill  at  Capreas.  One  day, 
as  Agrippa  was  going  to  the  bath  (a  favor  which  the  good 
management  of  Antonia  had  obtained  for  him),  his  freed- 
man  Marsyas  came  up  to  him  in  haste,  and  whispered  to 
him  in  Hebrew,  "  The  lion  is  dead  !  "  Agrippa  could  not 
conceal  his  delight.  The  words  meant  to  him  that  Ti- 
berius was  dead,  that  his  own  life  was  safe,  and  opened  a 
prospect  of  deliverance  from  captivity. 

The  centurion,  who  perceived  that  good  news  had  reached 
his  prisoner,  was  not  long  in  finding  it  out.  Feeling  sure 
that  Agrippa  would  soon  be  restored  to  rank  and  influence, 


282  JUDEA. 

and  willing  to  propitiate  his  favor,  he  struck  off  his  chains, 
and  invited  him  to  supper.  Whilst  at  that  repast,  news 
arrived  that  Tiberius  (like  Ferdinand  VII.  of  Spain)  after 
having  been  pronounced  dead  by  his  physicians,  had  re- 
vived, and  had  asked  for  food.  The  jailer,  in  great  terror, 
rechained  his  prisoner,  insultingly  reproaching  him  for 
having  deceived  him  by  a  false  report.  "  Agrippa  was  in 
an  evil  plight  that  night,"  says  Josephus,  when  relating  the 
story ;  but  the  next  day  came  news  that  Tiberius  was  really 
dead,  his  faint  spark  of  life  having  been  stifled,  some  said, 
by  his  attendants,  who  dreaded  his  recovery. 

His  successor  was  his  grand-nephew  Caius  —  not  the  boy 
Tiberius,  his  grandson,  who  he  wished  should  have  suc- 
ceeded him.  He  had  prayed  to  the  gods  to  grant  him  a 
sign  as  to  whether  his  great-nephew  or  his  grandson 
should  be  emperor,  but  at  the  same  time  he  manoeuvred 
to  have  the  sign  sanction  his  choice  of  young  Tiberius. 
It  turned  out  otherwise,  and  then,  having  acknowledged 
Caius  to  be  his  heir,  he  charged  him  solemnly  to  be  a 
faithful  guardian  to  the  young  Tiberius,  assuring  him  that 
so  certainly  as  he  betrayed  that  trust  a  great  evil  would 
befall  him. 

As  soon  as  it  was  considered  safe  to  release  a  state 
prisoner  bound  by  order  of  Tiberius,  Caius  Caesar  (whom 
we  know  best  as  Caligula)  set  his  friend  free,  restored  to 
him  his  royal  robes,  put  a  kingly  crown  upon  his  head,  and 
made  him  king  over  the  country  beyond  the  Jordan,  of 
which  his  uncle  Philip,  recently  deceased,  had  been  only 
tetrarch.  He  also  caused  a  chain  of  gold  to  be  made  for 
him,  of  weight  equal  to  that  of  the  iron  chain  he  had  worn 
during  his  captivity.  This  chain  Agrippa  subsequently 
gave  to  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 

After  two  years'  residence  in  Rome,  during  which  time 
the  new  emperor  showed  himself  to  be  a  very  worthy 
prince,  Agrippa  desired  leave  to  revisit  his  native  country. 
On  his  way  he  landed  at  Alexandria.  Flaccus,  who  had 
once  been  Governor  of  Syria,  and  had  expelled  the  young 
prince  from  his  court,  under  a  charge  of  taking  bribes  to 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA  283 

use  his  influence  with  the  government  on  a  certain  occa- 
sion, was  now  Governor  of  Egypt ;  and  an  extremely 
bitter  feeling  in  Alexandria  existed  between  Gentiles  and 
Jews.  Agrippa  endeavored  to  avoid  ostentatious  display, 
and  landed  secretly  by  night.  Jews  in  Alexandria  com- 
prised at  that  time  half  the  population,  and  from  various 
causes,  among  which,  as  in  modern  times,  was  envy  of 
their  prosperity  and  wealth,  they  were  cordially  feared  and 
detested  by  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  city.  When  the 
Gentiles  in  Alexandria,  Greeks,  Romans,  and  Egyptians, 
saw  a  Jew  in  their  streets  wearing  a  crown,  clad  in  purple, 
and  attended  by  a  guard  of  honor  in  glittering  armor,  the 
rabble  heaped  on  him  the  deadliest  insults ;  besides,  when 
last  in  Alexandria,  he  had  been  a  fugitive  from  justice,  an 
embarrassed  debtor,  who  for  lack  of  credit  could  raise  no 
supplies.  He  was  so  ill  received  on  all  sides,  both  by  the 
people  and  their  governor,  that  he  was  glad  to  make  his 
stay  as  short  as  possible,  and  to  proceed  to  his  new  king- 
dom on  the  left  bank  of  the  Jordan. 

Herodias,  when  she  found  her  impecunious  brother 
honored  with  a  diadem,  bearing  the  title  of  king,  and  high 
in  imperial  favor,  was  extremely  indignant.  She  never 
ceased  to  importune  and  worry  the  indolent  and  unambi- 
tious Herod  Antipas  until  he  consented  to  go  with  her  to 
Rome  and  implore  Caesar  to  bestow  upon  him  equal  honors. 
He  was,  she  said,  the  son  of  a  king  who  had  been  high  in 
favor  with  Augustus  Caesar,  while  Agrippa's  father  was 
executed  by  that  same  Herod,  as  a  criminal.  Already  the 
result  of  this  visit  of  Herodias  and  her  husband  to  Rome 
has  been  related  in  the  chapter  on  Herod  Antipas.  It 
ended  in  the  dethronement  and  banishment  of  Herod 
Antipas,  and  the  annexation  of  his  government,  the  late 
tetrarchy,  to  Agrippa's  kingdom. 

Agrippa  probably  did  not  remain  long  in  his  dominions ; 
residence  in  Rome  was  more  attractive,  and  indeed  his 
presence  was  sadly  needed  there.  The  insanity  of  his 
friend  the  emperor  was  becoming  generally  known. 
His  mania  was  shown  especially  in  his  desire  to  be  wor- 


284  JUDEA. 

shipped  by  his  subjects  as  a  god.  As  preliminary  to  a 
general  order  to  place  his  statues  in  all  places  of  worship 
throughout  the  empire,  he  ordered  Flaccus  to  begin  by 
setting  his  effigy  up  in  the  midst  of  the  proseuchse,  the  open- 
air  places  of  prayer  and  religious  exercises  frequented  in 
Alexandria  by  the  Jews.  The  Jews  resisted ;  the  trees  in 
these  places  of  pious  resort  were  cut  down ;  all  was  laid 
waste.  Statues  of  the  emperor  were  placed  where 
"  prayer  had  been  wont  to  be  made."  A  site  was  chosen 
by  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  for  a  statue  of  the  emperor  in 
his  chariot,  and  as  there  was  no  time  to  carry  out  the 
design  in  bronze  or  marble,  an  old  chariot,  once  owned  by 
Cleopatra,  was  pressed  into  the  service. 

Fierce  tumults  and  bloody  massacres  took  place  in 
Alexandria.  Flaccus  was  blamed  for  allowing  such  dis- 
orders in  his  government.  He  was  dismissed  and  sent 
into  exile.  Possibly  representations  made  to  the  emperor 
by  Agrippa  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  his 
deposition. 

Both  parties  then  sent  delegations  to  Rome  to  plead 
their  cause  before  the  Caesar.  The  leading  men  on  both 
sides  are  well  known  to  us  in  literature  and  history.  On 
the  Jewish  side  was  Philo,  the  author  of  many  books  on 
Jewish  life,  among  which  is  a  relation  of  what  occurred 
during  this  embassy.  On  the  Greek  side  was  Apion,  a  man 
very  unfriendly  to  the  Jews,  who  afterwards  wrote  a  treatise 
against  them,  denying  their  claims  to  antiquity  as  a  nation, 
and  collecting  all  the  calumnies  current  against  them  in 
Alexandria.  To  this,  Josephus  replied  in  his  tract  "  Against 
Apion." 

Philo  belonged  to  a  very  wealthy  Jewish  family  in  Alex- 
andria. He  was  the  brother  of  Tiberius  Alexander,  who 
apostatized,  rose  high  in  the  favor  of  subsequent  Roman 
emperors,  and  was  with  Titus  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem. 

Philo  was  nominally  a  Jew.  He  adhered  to  certain 
Jewish  observances,  but  his  religious  opinions,  so  far  as 
they  went,  were  rather  those  of  a  Greek  philosopher.  In 
his  account  of  his  embassy  to  Caligula  he  tells  us  that  it 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  285 

was  long  before  the  emperor  would  receive  the  disputants 
from  Alexandria,  but  at  length  he  appointed  them  to  meet 
him,  not  in  presence  of  the  Senate,  nor  in  state,  but  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Rome  at  one  of  his  country  places.1 
There  they  were  received  with  a  sarcastic  smile  and  a  bitter 
speech.  "  You  are,  then,"  said  he,  showing  his  teeth  as  he 
spoke,  "those  enemies  of  the  gods  who  alone  refuse  to 
acknowledge  my  divinity?"  And  he  followed  this  up  by 
what  his  Jewish  hearers  considered  blasphemy  against 
Jehovah.  One  of  their  accusers  then  spoke,  saying  that 
the  Jews  were  the  only  nation  who  had  refused  to  sacrifice 
for  the  emperor.  This  charge  the  Jews  at  once  disclaimed, 
asserting  that  they  had  been  foremost  to  offer  sacrifices 
for  the  emperor  on  his  accession.  "  Be  it  so,"  replied 
Caligula  ;  "  ye  have  sacrificed  for  me,  but  not  to  me."  He 
then  broke  off  the  interview,  and  began  to  run  madly 
through  the  villa,  upstairs  and  downstairs,  the  bewildered 
deputations  following  him.  Suddenly  he  exclaimed  to  the 
Jews,  "Why  is  it  that  you  do  not  eat  pork?"  The 
heathen  courtiers  burst  into  a  roar  of  laughter.  The  Jews 
replied  that  different  nations  had  their  different  customs ; 
some  persons  would  not  eat  lamb.  "They  are  right,"  said 
the  emperor,  "  lamb  is  a  very  tasteless  meat."  Then, 
after  some  further  antics,  and  a  prolonged  trial  of  their 
patience,  he  asked  them  abruptly  on  what  grounds  they 
claimed  citizenship  in  Alexandria.  They  began  to  explain, 
but  Caligula  again  broke  from  them,  running  up  and  down 
in  the  great  hall,  giving  orders  to  his  servants,  but  paying 
no  attention  to  the  delegates,  until  he  was  just  about  to  go 
away,  when  he  asked  more  courteously  if  they  had  any- 
thing further  to  say  to  him.  Again  they  resumed  their 
pleading,  and  again  he  broke  away  from  them,  remarking, 
however,  as  they  were  dismissed,  "  Well  !  they  do  not  seem 
so  bad,  after  all ;  they  are  only  a  poor  foolish  people  who 
cannot  believe  that  I  am  their  god." 

1  The  account  of  this  interview  is  taken  by  Milman  from  the 
narrative  by  Philo,  and  is  here,  not  quite  literally,  reproduced  from 
his  "  History  of  the  Jews." 


286  JUDEA. 

But  the  mania  for  having  his  statues  set  up  in  holy 
places,  and  being  worshipped  by  all  his  subjects  as  a  deity, 
was  strong  upon  him.  To  the  heathen  the  admission  of 
an  additional  god  into  their  pantheon  was  a  matter  of  in» 
difference,  but  it  was  quite  otherwise  with  the  Jews.  The 
Jews  have  never  had  a  strong  feeling  of  nationality.  The 
devotion  to  fatherland,  which  we  call  patriotism,  was  sup- 
plied with  them  by  devotion  to  the  Law  and  to  the  Temple, 
where  the  Law  may  be  said  to  have  had  its  capital.  To 
profane  the  Temple,  to  subvert  the  Law,  stirred  every  Jew 
into  vehement  opposition.  It  might  be  sweet  for  a  Roman 
to  die  for  his  country,  but  sweeter  far  was  it  for  a  Jew  to 
die  for  God's  Temple,  and  the  great  gift  given  to  the 
Jewish  people  from  Jehovah,  —  the  Ceremonial  Law. 

Caligula  issued  orders  that  the  heads  of  famous  statues 
of  divinities  in  Greece  —  Jupiter,  Hercules,  and  others,  — 
should  be  cut  off,  and  replaced  by  his  own.  And  as  it  was 
well  understood  in  Rome  that  the  decree  commanding  all 
peoples,  nations,  and  languages  throughout  the  empire  to 
pay  divine  honor  to  the  emperor  would  be  stoutly  resisted 
only  in  Judea,  Caligula  determined  to  use  his  best  efforts 
to  enforce  obedience  there. 

Augustus  had  allowed  temples  and  statues  to  be  erected 
by  flatterers  in  his  honor,  and  had  passively  consented  to 
receive  their  worship  ;  Tiberius  had  emphatically  declined 
such  homage ;  but  Caligula  in  his  frenzy  determined  to  en- 
force such  service  to  himself. 

For  this  purpose,  under  the  advice  of  his  chief  coun- 
sellors (a  slave  and  a  buffoon),  the  fatal  mandate  was  put 
forth.  A  gilded  colossal  statue  of  Caligula  was  to  be 
placed  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  innermost  sanc- 
tuary, and  the  Temple  was  to  be  dedicated  to  Jupiter  of 
Olympus,  and  to  the  emperor,  as  the  younger  Jupiter. 

The  Roman  of  high  rank  selected  to  carry  out  this  edict 
was  Publius  Petronius. 

We  know  Petronius  in  the  vivid  pages  of  "  Quo  Vadis," 
and  no  portrait  more  faithful  to  contemporary  history  was 
ever  drawn.  To  meet  him  in  history  seems  like  the  sur- 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  287 

prise  of  unexpectedly  encountering  in  the  street  an  old  and 
valued  friend. 

Renan,  while  speaking  in  his  "  Antichrist "  of  the  universal 
corruption  of  society  in  Rome,  says  :  "  The  '  honest  man ' 
in  this  age  of  transcendent  iniquity  —  yet  the  one  who 
represents  and  sums  up  the  quality  of  the  time  —  is  Pe- 
tronius.  He  gave  the  day  to  sleep,  the  night  to  business 
and  amusement.  He  was  not  one  of  those  fast-livers  who 
ruin  themselves  in  vulgar  debauchery,  but  a  voluptuary 
thoroughly  versed  in  the  science  of  pleasure.  The  natural 
ease  and  free  play  of  his  speech  and  acts  gave  him  a  most 
winning  air  of  frankness.  While  proconsul  in  Bithynia, 
and  afterwards  as  consul,  he  showed  the  finest  talent  for 
administration.  When  he  returned  to  vice,  —  or  the 
affected  display  of  it,  —  he  found  his  way  to  the  innermost 
circle  of  Nero's  court,  and  came  to  be  the  sovereign  judge 
of  taste,  —  arbiter  elegantiarum  ;  nothing  was  delightful 
or  in  good  form  without  his  verdict." 

Petronius  obeyed  the  mandate  which  sent  him,  as  it 
were,  on  a  forlorn  hope  of  overcoming  the  resistance  of 
the  Jews.  His  orders  were  to  place  the  statue  of  Caligula 
in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  at  all  costs  and  hazards,  and  he 
was  empowered,  if  necessary,  to  summon  two  legions  from 
the  shores  of  the  Euphrates,  to  carry  out  the  will  of  the 
emperor,  from  which  there  was  no  possible  appeal. 

Appalled  by  the  difficulties  that  he  saw  before  him, 
Petronius  summoned  a  council  of  his  friends  to  assist  him 
by  their  advice  ;  they  all  agreed  that  the  mandate  of  the 
emperor  was  imperative.  Then  Petronius  gave  orders  to 
Sidonian  workmen  to  make  the  gilded  statue.  He  sailed 
for  Judea,  and  took  up  his  winter  quarters  with  his  soldiers 
at  Ptolemais  (Acre).  It  was  the  winter  of  the  year  A.  D.  41. 
As  soon  as  the  people  of  Judea  knew  of  the  orders  with 
which  he  came  from  Rome,  high  and  low,  priests  and 
people,  assembled  to  protest  and  to  implore.  They  cov- 
ered the  country ;  many  of  them  wearing  sackcloth,  and 
with  ashes  on  their  heads.  In  vain  Petronius  endeavored 
to  impress  them  with  the  absolute  necessity  of  yielding 


288  JUDEA. 

obedience  to  a  mandate  of  the  emperor,  and  assured  them 
that  his  master's  commands  were  as  imperative  on  himself 
as  on  them.  They  answered  that  their  obedience  was  first 
due  to  the  ordinances  of  God.  If  he  must  obey  Caligula, 
they  must  obey  Jehovah,  or  die  rather  than  take  part  in 
the  violation  of  His  sanctuary. 

Petronius,  moved  by  their  distress,  left  his  legions  and 
his  statues  at  Ptolemais,  and  went  into  Galilee,  where,  at 
Tiberias,  he  summoned  the  chief  men  of  the  Jews  to  meet 
him.  In  vain  he  urged  on  them  the  necessity  of  yielding 
obedience  to  the  emperor,  —  the  hopelessness  of  resistance 
to  his  will.  And,  when  his  arguments  had  no  effect,  he 
asked  them  if  they  were  resolved  to  wage  war  against  the 
whole  power  of  Rome.  "  We  have  no  thought  of  war," 
they  replied  unanimously,  "  but  we  will  submit  to  be  mas- 
sacred rather  than  violate  our  Law."  And  then,  remem- 
bering perhaps  a  similar  scene  enacted  a  few  years  before 
in  the  presence  of  Pontius  Pilate,  they  fell  on  the  ground 
upon  their  faces,  and  bared  their  necks  to  the  sword. 

Petronius  was  much  moved.  The  struggle  lasted  forty 
days.  Meantime  the  crops  remained  unsown,  the  land 
uncultivated.  Leading  men  among  the  Jews,  one  of  whom 
was  Aristobulus  the  brother  of  Agrippa,  remonstrated  with 
Petronius  on  the  folly  of  reducing  a  flourishing  province  to 
a  desert  land.  All  this,  coinciding  with  the  feelings  and 
opinions  of  Petronius  himself,  induced  him  at  last  to  prom- 
ise that  he  would  forward  a  remonstrance  on  their  part  to 
Caligula ;  but  he  plainly  told  them  that  by  so  doing  he  was 
hazarding  his  own  life,  with  little  probability  that  their  lives 
would  be  spared. 

He  did  not  send  the  remonstrance ;  he  wrote  letters 
excusing  his  delays  to  the  emperor  on  the  ground  that  the 
gilded  statue  was  not  yet  out  of  the  workmen's  hands. 

When  these  letters  reached  Caligula  his  fury  knew  no 
bounds,  and  while  his  rage  was  at  its  height  his  early  friend 
Agrippa  entered  his  presence.  Caligula  turned  upon  him, 
and  broke  into  such  vehement  reproaches,  and  threats  of 
vengeance  against  the  Jews,  that  Agrippa,  taken  by  surprise, 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  289 

lost  his  self-command,  and  fainted  in  his  sovereign's  pres- 
ence. When  he  recovered  he  said  no  more  on  the  subject 
of  the  Jews,  but  invited  the  emperor  to  a  banquet,  —  more 
magnificent  than  anything  that,  up  to  that  time,  had  been 
seen  even  in  luxurious  Rome.  Delighted  with  the  honor 
paid  him  by  such  a  feast,  the  emperor,  while  at  table, 
begged  Agrippa  to  say  what  favour  he  should  grant  him. 
"  Agrippa,  with,"  says  Philo,  "the  feeling  of  one  who  had 
the  blood  of  the  Asmonean  princes  in  his  veins  (and  per- 
haps the  example  of  Queen  Esther  in  his  heart),  asked 
nothing  for  himself,  but  earnestly  implored  the  repeal  of  the 
mandate  which  involved  the  destruction  of  his  people." 

It  cost  Caligula  a  hard  struggle  to  grant  this  boon  to  his 
former  friend  and  favorite,  but  at  length  he  did  so,  pro- 
testing at  the  same  time  that  this  concession  should  not 
stay  his  wrath  against  Petronius,  to  whom  he  wrote  letters 
charging  him  with  having  preferred  the  bribes  of  the 
Jews  to  obedience  to  his  sovereign,  and  commanding  him 
to  return  at  once  to  Rome,  there  to  receive  exemplary 
punishment. 

Happily,  the  ship  that  bore  these  letters  encountered  a 
great  storm,  which  delayed  it  on  its  passage ;  and  when  it 
reached  a  port  in  Palestine,  another  vessel,  which  had 
made  a  good  voyage,  had  arrived  before  it,  bringing  news 
to  Petronius  of  the  dethronement  and  death  of  his  insane 
master. 

The  mad  acts  of  Caligula  and  his  unreasoning  cruelties, 
had  alarmed  the  very  ministers  of  his  murderous  caprices. 
They  resolved  to  kill  him  as  he  quitted  the  amphithea- 
tre at  the  close  of  certain  games  in  honor  of  Augustus. 
He  was  overtaken,  stabbed,  and  hacked  to  pieces,  in  a 
dark  passage.  Rome  was  taken  by  surprise ;  no  plans 
for  what  was  to  follow  the  assassination  of  the  mad  emperor 
had  been  made.  A  party  in  the  Senate  desired  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  old  Roman  republic ;  the  army  clam- 
ored for  a  military  chief.  For  a  few  hours  there  was 
danger  of  civil  war  in  Rome,  when  Agrippa  came  forward. 
"  And,"  says  Dean  Milraan,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Jews," 

19 


290  JUDEA. 

"  at  that  critical  period,  and  in  the  confusion  that  followed, 
he  sustained  an  important  part.  His  conduct  was  honorable 
to  his  feelings  as  well  as  to  his  address  and  influence.  He 
alone  paid  the  last  honors  to  his  murdered  friend.  He  then 
became  mainly  instrumental  in  the  peaceful  re-establish- 
ment of  that  order  of  things  which,  however  different 
from  that  which  an  ardent  lover  of  the  old  Roman  liberty 
might  have  desired,  was  perhaps  the  best  which  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case  would  admit.  He  persuaded  the 
Senate  to  abandon  their  unavailing  resistance  to  the  infuri- 
ated soldiery ;  while  he  reassured  the  weak  and  unambitious 
spirit  of  Claudius  (son  of  the  elder  Drusus,  uncle  of  Calig- 
ula and  next  heir  to  the  throne).  At  the  same  time  he 
dissuaded  him  from  taking  those  violent  measures  against 
the  Senate  to  which  the  soldiers  were  urging  him,  and 
which  would  have  deluged  Rome  in  blood." 

Claudius  had  lived  a  studious  life  in  Rome  as  a  quiet, 
peaceful  citizen,  and  when  tumult  on  the  death  of  Calig- 
ula broke  out  in  the  palace,  he  hastened  to  hide  him- 
self. One  of  the  German  body-guard,  however,  rushing 
through  the  palace,  saw,  it  is  said,  his  feet  protruding  from 
beneath  a  curtain.1  With  loud  laughter  he  pulled  forth  the 
half-dazed  fugitive,  and  shouted  to  his  comrades  that  he 
had  found  them  an  emperor  ! 

As  soon  as  Agrippa  heard  of  this,  he  quitted  the  dead 
body  of  his  murdered  friend,  and  came  forward  to  give 
Claudius  good  counsel.  By  his  advice  the  Senate  offered 
the  diadem  to  the  soldiers'  candidate,  and,  also  by  his 
advice,  Claudius  promised  the  Roman  people  a  mild  and 
equitable  government. 

Having  seen  the  new  emperor  firmly  established  and 
the  murderers  of  his  predecessor  punished,  Agrippa  did 
not  remain  in  Rome  to  be  his  sovereign's  personal  friend 
and  counsellor.  He  went  back  to  his  own  country,  where 
Claudius  added  to  his  dominions  Judea,  Samaria,  and 
Abilene  ;  so  that  his  rule  was  as  extensive  as  had  been  that  of 

1  A  picture  of  this  scene  by  Alma-Tadema  is  in  the  Walters  Gallery 
in  Baltimore. 


CLAUDIUS. 


KING  HEROD  AGR1PPA.  29 1 

his  grandfather  King  Herod  the  Great.  To  please  Agrippa, 
the  man  whom  the  king  delighted  to  honor,  Herod,  his 
younger  brother,  was  made  King  of  Chalcis,  and  a  decree 
was  passed  favoring  the  Jews.  The  edict  which  announced 
the  donation  of  new  dominions  to  Agrippa  was  set  forth 
with  great  publicity ;  the  act  contained  a  warm  eulogium 
upon  Agrippa,  and  it  was  registered  in  the  Capitol  on  a 
tablet  of  brass. 

When  Agrippa  reached  his  new  dominions  his  policy 
was  to  make  friends  with  those  he  was  appointed  to 
rule.  The  Pharisees  were  the  popular  party.  Agrippa 
endeavored  to  ingratiate  himself  with  them  by  observing 
minutely  all  that  was  required  of  a  zealous  Jew.  He 
offered  sacrifices  daily  in  the  Temple,  he  paid  the  expenses 
of  many  Nazarites,  he  relaxed  the  burden  of  the  taxes ; 
and  "the  Mishna  records,  with  admiration,"  says  Dean 
Farrar,  "  that  he  paid  his  offering  of  first-fruits  with  his 
own  hand,  like  any  other  Israelite,  taking  his  basket  on 
his  shoulder."  I  have  told  already  how  the  chain  of  gold, 
as  heavy  as  the  chain  of  iron  he  had  worn  jn  captivity, 
was  hung  up  by  him  in  the  Temple.  Thus  the  Jews, 
for  the  first  time  for  many  generations,  had  a  popular 
sovereign. 

In  endeavoring  "  to  please  the  Jews "  he  bethought 
himself  unhappily  of  persecuting  the  rising  sect  of  Chris- 
tians. He  killed  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  with  the  sword, 
and,  perceiving  that  this  act  increased  his  popularity,  "  he 
proceeded  to  take  Peter  also."  But  Peter  was  mysteri- 
ously delivered  from  prison,  and  Agrippa  was  unable  at 
the  coming  Passover  to  gratify  the  Jews,  as  he  had  hoped, 
by  the  spectacle  of  his  execution. 

About  this  time  he  broke  off  friendly  relations  with 
Silas,  an  old  and  tried  friend  and  servant,  whom  he  had 
made  Master  of  his  Horse.  Agrippa  had  been  always 
sensitive,  as  we  have  seen,  about  his  early  misfortunes ; 
he  had  endured  disgrace,  to  which  he  could  not  bear 
allusion,  and  Silas  took  advantage  of  old  familiarity  to 
remind  him  frequently  of  his  former  poverty.  Agrippa  at 


2Q2  JUDEA. 

last  grew  angry,  and  sent  the  old  friend  who  had  presumed 
too  far  to  prison.  But  he  repented  before  long.  In  the 
kindness  of  his  heart  he  wanted  to  be  friends  again  with 
his  old  servant,  and  sent  Silas  an  invitation  to  dinner. 
But  Silas  was  implacable ;  he  refused  to  be  forgiven.  He 
scorned  the  king's  overture  of  reconciliation,  and  Agrippa, 
to  use  his  own  expression,  "  had  to  leave  him  to  his  folly." 

But  great  as  the  services  of  Agrippa  had  been  to  Rome 
and  to  the  Roman  emperor,  he  was,  during  his  short  reign 
over  all  Palestine,  made  to  feel  more  than  once  that  he 
was  a  vassal  after  all.  A  wall  that  he  was  building  round 
Jerusalem  excited  the  suspicion  of  the  Legate  of  Syria,  who 
compelled  him  to  leave  the  work  half  done ;  and  subse- 
quently, when  he  was  entertaining  four  kings  with  games 
and  feasts  at  Tiberias,  the  same  legate  chose  to  fancy  that 
such  a  gathering  of  potentates  portended  some  conspiracy, 
and  by  his  own  proconsular  authority,  dismissed  Agrippa's 
guests  to  their  own  homes. 

We  read  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  Agrippa,  in  the 
year  44  A.  D.,  conceived  some  displeasure  against  the 
people  of  Tyre,  who,  being  afraid  that  they  might  be  cut 
off  from  their  food  supply  (for  there  was  to  be  "  a  great 
dearth  throughout  the  land  in  the  days  of  Claudius 
Caesar  "),  humbly  waited  on  him  at  Caesarea,  where  he  was 
holding  games  and  offering  vows  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
emperor.  On  the  second  day  of  these  spectacles,  Agrippa, 
wearing  his  diadem,  and  clad  in  a  robe  of  silver  tissue, 
which  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  spectators  as  it  caught  the 
early  rays  of  the  summer  sun,  entered  the  theatre,  and  was 
received  with  shouts  which  hailed  him  as  a  god.  This 
adulation  delighted  him,  —  he  loved  popularity.  Perhaps 
he  remembered  how,  twenty  years  before,  in  all  the  towns 
along  that  coast  he  had  been  despised  as  a  penniless 
adventurer.  The  shouts  continued.  His  heart  was  filled 
with  exultation,  when  raising  his  eyes  he  saw  upon  a  rope 
over  his  head  a  little  owl  such  as  he  had  seen  once  before 
when  standing  bound  before  the  door  of  a  Roman  prison. 
"  The  fatal  omen,"  says  Josephus,  "pierced  the  heart  of  the 


KING  HEROD  AGRIPPA.  293 

king,"  and  with  deep  melancholy  he  said  to  those  about 
him,  "Your  god  will  soon  suffer  the  common  lot  of 
humanity."  A  few  moments  after,  he  was  seized  with 
violent  intestinal  pains,  —  probably  the  same  disease  as 
that  of  King  Herod,  his  grandfather.  Scripture  thus 
describes  it :  "  Because  he  gave  not  God  the  glory  he  was 
eaten  of  worms  and  gave  up  the  ghost."  For  five  days 
he  lingered  in  great  agony,  and  then  died  in  the  forty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age. 

Claudius  considered  Agrippa,  his  seventeen-year-old  son, 
too  young  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  so  turbulent  a  de- 
pendency of  the  Roman  Empire  as  the  Jewish  kingdom  ;  but 
he  promised  to  give  it  to  him  when  he  should  be  old  enough 
to  govern  it.  Meantime  Judea  was  to  relapse  into  a  Roman 
province,  and  Cuspius  Fadus  was  sent  to  it  as  its  procurator. 

Herod  Agrippa  left  four  children  :  his  son,  the  second 
Agrippa  ;  Berenice,  who  was  probably  the  most  fascinating 
woman  of  her  time  (she  had  been  early  married  to  her 
uncle  Herod  of  Chalcis)  ;  Drusilla,  whom  her  father  had 
united  to  Aziz,  King  of  Emesa ;  and  Mariamne,  who  later 
married  a  wealthy  Jew  in  Egypt,  the  nephew  of  Philo. 

If  Agrippa  was  popular  among  the  Jews,  he  was  far  from 
standing  well  with  the  Syrians  and  Greeks  in  his  domin- 
ions. The  Roman  legions  under  his  command,  whose 
license  he  had  restrained  in  their  intercourse  with  the 
Jews,  made  indecent  rejoicings  over  his  death ;  insulting 
his  memory  and  his  family.  Claudius  was  indignant  when 
he  heard  of  this,  and  ordered  the  removal  of  the  offending 
legion  to  Pontus.  For  some  reason  unknown  to  us,  this 
sentence  was  not  put  in  execution,  and  the  Roman  soldiers 
treasured  up  the  memory  of  their  disgrace  that  they  might 
visit  it  when  opportunity  should  offer  on  the  Jews.  Twenty, 
and  twenty-five  years  later,  the  time  for  vengeance  came. 
The  memory  of  a  warlike  band,  —  a  regiment  or  a  legion, 
is  a  long  one.  The  rancor  excited  in  the  hearts  of  these 
legionaries  towards  the  Jews  by  this  event  was,  thinks 
Josephus,  one  of  the  prime  causes  of  his  country's  subse- 
quent disasters. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

FELIX,    FESTUS,    FLORUS. 

TTEROD  AGRIPPA  died  in  the  year  44  A.  D.  The  Pro- 
•*-  •*-  curator  Cuspius  Fadus,  who  succeeded  to  his  author- 
ity in  Judea,  when  on  his  death  his  dominions  became 
again  dependencies  of  the  imperial  province  of  Syria,  was 
a  man  of  Roman  sternness.  Agrippa  had  been  a  concilia- 
tory ruler,  but  was  never  an  able  one.  His  laxity  gave 
encouragement  to  bands  of  outlaws,  who  desolated  the 
country  lying  east  of  the  Jordan.  Fadus  made  them  feel 
the  power  of  the  Roman  arm,  but  on  attempting  to  revoke 
the  decree  by  which  Vitellius  had  intrusted  to  the  Jews  the 
custody  of  their  high-priests'  robes  of  office,  he  was  met 
by  the  opposition  of  all  parties  in  Jerusalem,  and  also 
by  the  influence  of  the  young  Agrippa  in  Rome.  This 
prince  stood  high  in  the  favor  of  Claudius,  and  obtained 
for  his  uncle  Herod,  king  of  Chalcis,  the  guardianship  of 
the  Temple,  the  privilege  of  nominating  the  high-priests, 
and  the  custody  of  the  sacerdotal  robes. 

Since  Joseph  Caiaphas  was  deposed  (A.  D.  36)  there  had 
been  five  high-priests.  Herod  of  Chalcis  removed  the  one 
who  held  office  when  he  was  made  custodian  of  the  Tem- 
ple, and  appointed  Joseph  the  son  of  Kamith  in  his  stead. 

In  those  days  the  Jews  in  all  countries,  and  likewise  the 
Christians,  were  in  a  ferment  of  expectation.  They  were 
looking  for  the  advent  of  that  great  Deliverer  who  should 
establish  his  kingdom  upon  earth,  and  give  pre-eminence 
to  his  chosen  people.  Their  confidence,  founded  upon 
prophecy,  had  communicated  itself  vaguely  to  the  heathen 
world. 


FELIX,  FESTUS,  FLORUS.  295 

"  The  Jews  who  rejected  Christ  were  not  fiends,  but  men, 
some  of  them  very  bad  men,  but  yet  men ;  and  not  so 
infernally  and  purely  wicked  as  many  have  seemed  to  think 
them.  There  were  some  things  which  might  have  given 
doubt  as  to  Christ  in  the  best-disposed  minds.  There  was 
abundance  of  prophecy  no  doubt,  but  much  of  it  was  ob- 
scure, and  some  of  it  seemed  to  favor  the  opponents' 
views ;  for  instance,  the  prophecies  which  represented  the 
grandeur  and  power  of  the  Messiah.  It  does  not  appear 
at  all  unnatural  that  many  found  it  hard  to  think  that  such 
prophecies  could  be  fulfilled  in  the  person  of  a  meek  man, 
poor  and  without  a  home.  The  very  nature  of  the  Mosaic 
dispensation  had  a  tendency  to  keep  the  mind  somewhat 
fixed  on  the  external,  and  on  form  and  dignity,  so  that  minds 
trained  in  it  had  a  difficulty  that  we  can  hardly  conceive  in 
appreciating  anything  so  purely  spiritual  as  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  .  .  .  The  Jews,  believing  most  deeply  that  the  old 
system  was  from  God,  —  and  all  of  it, — very  naturally 
thought  that  no  part  or  degree  of  it  could  be  abrogated 
without  blasphemy,  and  with  every  part  of  that  system  the 
Jew  associated  his  highest  affections,  his  pride,  and  his 
hope."1 

All  this  may  well  be  remembered  as  we  enter  on  this 
period  of  Jewish  history,  when  fanaticism  ran  rampant,  and 
the  woes  of  the  present  seemed  but  the  prelude  to  the 
approaching  glories  of  Messiah's  reign. 

There  were  a  million  Jews  in  Egypt ;  and  in  the  East 
their  numbers  were  far  greater.  The  return  of  devout  Jews 
to  Palestine  after  the  seventy  years'  captivity  was  small  in 
proportion  to  those  left  in  Babylonia,  Persia,  Parthia, 
Armenia,  and  the  neighboring  countries.  While  the  Jews 
in  Alexandria  had  been  Grecianized,  the  Jews  of  Babylonia 
kept  strictly  to  the  Law  of  Moses.  Proselytes  were  made 
in  the  East  even  in  high  places.  Kings,  queens,  and 

1  From  an  unpublished  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  G. 
Mercer,  of  Newport,  R.  I.  Three  volumes  of  his  sermons  have  been 
posthumously  published :  "  Bible  Characters  ;"  "The  Teaching  of 
Christ ;  "  and  "  He,  being  Dead,  yet  Speaketh." 


296  JUDEA. 

princes  became  Jews.  Some  were  converted  by  travelling 
traders,  who  did  the  work  of  missionaries  when  admitted  to 
the  women's  apartments  to  display  their  wares.  Nearly 
all  the  women  of  rank  and  consequence  in  Damascus  were 
proselytes,  or  in  secret  favored  the  Jews.  Among  those 
who  were  thus  converted  was  Helena,  Queen  of  Adiabene, 
a  land  lying  on  the  shores  of  the  Tigris.  She  and  her  sons 
became  devoted  converts  to  Judaism.  They  built  a  palace 
in  Jerusalem  in  which  they  might  reside  when  attending  the 
yearly  Feasts ;  and  during  the  great  famine  in  the  days  of 
Claudius  they  expended  vast  sums  in  bringing  wheat  from 
Alexandria,  and  figs  from  Cyprus,  to  feed  the  famished 
people.  The  younger  members  of  the  family  were  sent  to 
Jerusalem,  to  be  there  instructed  by  the  Doctors  of  the  Law, 
and,  when  Helena  died,  her  remains,  and  those  of  her  son 
Izartes,  were  transported  to  Judea,  and  interred  in  a 
splendid  mausoleum  near  Jerusalem. 

Another  event  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  which 
took  place  during  the  administration  of  Fadus,  was  an  in- 
surrection led  by  one  Theudas,  an  impostor,  who  "  boasted 
himself  to  be  somebody."  He  gathered  a  great  number  of 
adherents  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Jordan,  and  assured  them 
that,  like  Joshua,  he  would  divide  the  waters  of  the  river, 
and  that  they  should  pass  over  it  dry-shod.  But  Roman 
vigilance  seized  on  him  before  he  had  time  to  make  the 
attempt ;  his  head  was  cut  off,  and  sent  to  Jerusalem. 

I  have  told  already  of  wholesale  massacres  of  Jews  in 
Egypt  and  in  Syria,  during  the  latter  days  of  Caligula's 
reign.  The  Jews  in  Babylonia  about  the  same  time  suf- 
ered  terribly  in  the  same  way,  chiefly  through  the  persistent 
enmity  of  the  Syrians. 

Two  brothers,  Jewish  outlaws,  put  themselves  at  the  head 
of  a  band  hidden  in  a  swamp,  like  the  followers  of  Here- 
ward  the  Wake  in  his  Camp  of  Refuge.  Their  aims,  like 
those  of  the  Saxon  leader,  were  partly  political.  They 
acquired  such  fame  by  their  prowess  that  they  and  their  fol- 
lowers were  enlisted  as  free  lances  in  the  service  of  a  king 
of  Parthia  who  held  them  in  great  esteem.  But  prosperity 


FELIX,  FESTUS,  FLORUS.  297 

led  to  a  dispute  between  the  brothers,  to  their  ultimate 
downfall,  and  to  dreadful  reprisals  against  all  the  Jewish 
families  in  Babylonia. 

Fadus  governed  Palestine  only  two  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Tiberius  Alexander,  an  apostate  Jew,  son  of  the 
Alabarch  (or  municipal  ruler  of  the  Jews  in  Alexandria) 
who  had  received  Herod  Agrippa  with  some  kindness  in 
his  days  of  adversity.  Tiberius  Alexander  was  also  the 
nephew  of  Philo,  the  pamphleteer  and  historian. 

Tiberius  Alexander  governed  Judea  only  two  years.  The 
principal  event  which  distinguishes  his  administration  was 
the  crucifixion  of  two  Zealot  leaders,  James  and  Simon, 
sons  of  Judas  the  Galilean,  a  brigand  and  a  rebel,  accord- 
ing to  Roman  ideas,  while  thousands  of  his  countrymen 
considered  him  a  patriot  after  the  pattern  of  the  Macca- 
bean  brothers. 

In  A.  D.  48  Ventidius  Cumanus  succeeded  Tiberius 
Alexander.  There  was  at  that  time  a  new  high-priest, 
the  second  who  had  been  appointed  by  Herod,  King  of 
Chalcis,  since  he  became  governor  of  the  Temple. 

The  death  of  Herod  gave  Claudius  the  opportunity  of 
appointing  Agrippa  II.  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Temple 
and  to  the  kingdom  of  Chalcis,  to  which  was  added  a  large 
part  of  Galilee,  and  districts  lying  beyond  the  Jordan.  At 
once  young  King  Agrippa  assumed  authority.  Herod  ot 
Chalcis  had  left  two  sons,  one  of  whom  Nero  made  a  king  in 
Lesser  Armenia,  but  the  affairs  of  that  branch  of  the  Hero- 
dian  family  play  little  part  in  history. 

The  Roman  legion  quartered  in  Jerusalem  was  the  same 
that  so  indecently  at  Caesarea  had  rejoiced  over  the  death 
of  the  Jewish  king,  Herod  Agrippa.  The  anger  of  Claudius 
had  been  kindled  agafnst  them  for  their  conduct,  and  he 
had  decreed  their  severe  punishment ;  but  the  order  was 
not  carried  into  effect.  It  was  not,  however,  as  I  have 
said,  forgotten  by  the  legion.  They  took  every  oppor- 
tunity to  show  their  scorn  and  detestation  of  the  Jews. 
On  some  public  occasion  when  a  party  of  them  was  sta- 
tioned in  one  of  the  colonnades  of  the  Temple  to  keep 


298  JUDEA. 

order  during  a  festival,  one  of  the  soldiers  committed  a 
vulgar  act  of  indecency  which  shocked  the  feelings  of  the 
Jewish  worshippers.  A  tumult  arose  in  which  some  thou- 
sands of  people  perished ;  the  sacrifices  were  suspended, 
and  the  whole  city  was  filled  with  wrath  and  wailing. 

Audacious  robberies  were  about  this  time  committed 
by  roving  bands  of  banditti  (or  insurgent  patriots)  in  the 
vicinity  of  Jerusalem.  A  soldier  —  one  of  a  party  sent  into 
southern  Judea  to  burn  some  villages  where  the  robbers 
were  believed  to  conceal  themselves  —  found  a  copy  of  the 
Law,  and  publicly  with  oaths  and  blasphemy  tore  it  in 
pieces.  For  this  outrage  his  superiors  had  him  executed ; 
but  the  wrath  of  the  populace  was  not  appeased. 

The  half-smothered  animosity  between  the  Jews  and 
the  Samaritans  broke  out  afresh.  Ventidius  Cumanus, 
then  Procurator  of  Judea,  took  part  with  the  Samaritans. 
The  Jews  carried  their  complaints  to  the  Governor  of 
Syria,  who,  having  investigated  the  affair,  put  leading  men 
of  both  parties  to  death,  by  way  of  showing  even-handed 
justice.  He  sent  also  the  high-priest  Ananias  to  Rome  in 
chains,  and  ordered  Cumanus  to  appear  before  the  em- 
peror to  answer  for  himself.  The  influence  of  the  young 
Agrippa,  assisted  by  that  of  the  Empress  Agrippina,  pro- 
cured the  release  of  the  high-priest,  and  the  punishment  of 
the  procurator.  A  new  high-priest  (or  rather  a  sagan,  or 
locum  fenens),  named  Jonathan,  having,  thanks  to  Agrippa, 
acquired  some  influence  at  court,  exerted  himself  to  obtain 
the  procuratorship  of  Judea  for  Claudius  Felix,1  brother  of 
the  worthless  Pallas,  the  freedman  and  favorite  of  Claudius 
Caesar. 

Felix  was  born  a  slave,  had  the  vices  and  the  spirit  of 
a  slave,  and  was  notorious,  even  in  those  evil  days,  for  his 
profligacy.  Obscure  as  was  his  birth,  he  married  three 
wives  in  succession,  all  of  them  ladies  of  royal  descent. 
The  woman  who  was  his  wife  while  he  governed  Judea 
was  Drusilla,  daughter  of  King  Herod  Agrippa.  Her 
father  had  married  her  to  Aziz,  King  of  Emesa,  who  had 
1  It  is  doubtful  if  his  name  was  Claudius  or  Antonius. 


FELIX,   FESTUS,  FLORUS.  299 

consented  to  accept  the  sign  of  Jewish  faith  that  he  might 
obtain  her  in  marriage.  But  Drusilla  abandoned  him, 
seduced  by  Felix.  Her  marriage  to  a  heathen  was  more 
abominable  than  her  adultery  in  the  eyes  of  the  Jews.  We 
know  how  shamelessly  she  sat  with  her  husband  on  the 
judgment-seat,  to  hear  the  pleading  of  Saint  Paul ;  we  know 
how  the  sycophantic  orator  Tertullus  began  his  speech  with 
an  address  to  Felix :  "  Seeing  that  by  thee  we  enjoy 
great  quietness,  and  that  very  worthy  deeds  are  done  unto 
this  nation  by  thy  providence,  we  accept  it  always,  and  in 
all  places,  most  noble  Felix,  with  all  thankfulness ;  "  and 
we  know,  too,  that  the  apostle  commenced  his  address 
by  merely  saying :  "  Forasmuch  as  I  know  that  thou 
hast  been  for  many  years  a  judge  unto  this  nation,1  I  do 
the  more  cheerfully  answer  for  myself." 

Tacitus  tells  us  that,  supported  by  the  influence  of  his 
brother  Pallas,  Felix  governed  his  province  "  with  the 
authority  of  a  king,  but  the  disposition  of  a  slave,"  com- 
mitting all  sorts  of  crimes  and  cruelties  with  impunity. 
On  the  murder  of  Claudius  by  his  wife  Agrippina,  Felix 
was  succeeded  by  a  better  man,  Porcius  Festus.  When 
this  new  procurator  was  hearing  the  cause  of  Saint  Paul, 
Agrippa  and  his  sister  Berenice  sat  with  him  on  the  judg- 
ment seat.  While  Felix  was  in  office  they  had  avoided 
intercourse  with  him  as  the  new  husband  of  their  adulterous 
sister  Drusilla.  Much  has  been  said  against  the  character 
of  Berenice,  both  by  Suetonius  and  Juvenal,  but  scandals 
must  have  been  common  in  Roman  society  in  those  days, 
and  evil  reports  must  have  followed  the  steps  of  every  high- 
born woman.  Berenice  was  early  married  to  her  uncle 
Herod  of  Chalcis,  afterwards  to  Ptolemeo,  King  of  Pontus, 
from  whom  she  subsequently  separated,  and  she  resided 
ever  after  in  the  house  of  her  brother  Agrippa.  She  was  his 
eldest  sister,  and  at  the  time  when  the  young  Titus  became 
her  devoted  admirer  she  was  forty-two  years  of  age,  which 
seems  to  make  it  improbable  that  the  attraction  she  had 
for  him  was  of  a  vulgar  kind.  It  was  more  likely  that 

1  Felix  was  Procurator  of  Judea  eight  years  —  from  A.  D.  52  to  60. 


300  JUDEA. 

which  a  highly  accomplished  and  intellectual  woman  might 
exercise  over  a  young  man  of  ambition  and  promise,  who 
had  had  few  opportunies  of  intercourse  with  the  fashionable 
world.  All  we  know  of  Berenice  is  in  her  favor.  She 
always  exerted  an  influence  for  mercy  and  for  honorable 
conduct,  both  over  her  brother  and  Titus,  his  friend  and 
patron.  She  was  a  conscientious  observer  of  the  rules  of 
the  Jewish  Law,  and  never  shrank  from  acknowledging  her 
country  or  her  religion. 

Drusilla  and  her  son  by  Felix,  who  was  named  Agrippa, 
perished  in  the  eruption  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  which  in  A.  D. 
79  destroyed  Pompeii. 

Festus,  when  he  became  Governor  of  Judea,  found  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  distracted  province.  Every  part  of 
Palestine  was  in  anarchy  and  confusion.  It  seems  to  have 
been  a  thing  unheard-of  in  that  day  for  any  Roman  who 
had  been  appointed  to  the  high  office  of  a  provincial  pro- 
curator to  refuse  to  accept  so  important  a  position ;  never- 
theless we  wonder  that  men  who  lived  in  Rome,  in  ease 
and  luxury,  could  have  been  found  willing  to  undertake  so 
thankless  a  task  as  that  of  governing  the  Jews.  Roman 
officials  who  held  that  office  must  have  been  worried  nearly 
out  of  their  lives  by  complaints  and  disputes  that  they 
could  not  understand,  by  appeals  to  Caesar  against  them- 
selves, by  the  state  of  the  country,  and  the  diversity  of 
factions,  both  political  and  theological,  between  which  they 
were  called  upon  to  take  some  side.  To  be  sure,  each  pro- 
curator counted  upon  quitting  office  with  a  fortune.  Every 
high  Roman  official  "  feathered  his  own  nest"  — to  use  a 
homely  simile. 

Nero  was  now  Emperor  of  Rome.  He  was  the  son  of 
Agrippina  by  a  former  marriage,  and  in  no  way  descended 
from  his  predecessor  Claudius.  He  gave  to  the  Greeks 
of  Caesarea  the  control  of  that  city,  making  them  in  munici- 
pal matters  the  equals  of  the  Jews.  But  the  Jews  protested 
that  Caesarea  was  their  city,  built  by  their  king,  Herod,  on 
Judean  soil.  The  Greeks  asserted  that  it  was  essentially  a 
Gentile  city,  adorned  with  temples  and  statues  abhorrent 


FELIX,  FESTUS,  FLORUS.  301 

to  the  Jews.     The  dispute  led  to  perpetual  riots,  and  finally 
to  a  massacre. 

In  addition  to  such  local  massacres,  and  to  insurrections 
against  the  Romans,  there  were  angry  disputes  among  the 
Jews  themselves,  dissensions  between  the  wealthy  and  the 
destitute,  the  pious  and  the  worldly,  the  aristocrats  and  the 
Chasidim,  the  upper  orders  of  the  priests  and  the  Levites, 
their  inferiors,  whom  they  oppressed  and  defrauded.  The 
office  of  high-priest  and  all  offices  dependent  on  it  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  Sadducees.  Corruption,  bribery,  and  self- 
indulgence,  had  reached  an  extreme  point.  The  office  of 
supreme  pontiff  was  openly  bought  by  women  for  their 
husbands.  The  rapid  succession  of  high-priests  was  to  the 
Herods  and  Roman  procurators  a  source  of  revenue. 
Those  refined  and  wealthy  "gentlemen,"  whose  duty  it  was 
to  offer  sacrifices  at  the  High  Altar  in  the  Temple,  shrank 
from  soiling  their  hands  with  the  blood  of  the  victims,  and 
wore  silk  gloves  while  performing  sacrificial  duties.  There 
was  a  popular  rhyme  sung  in  those  days  in  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem  :  — 

"  Plague  be  on  the  house  of  Boethus,  — 
A  plague  on  them  by  reason  of  their  clubs ! 

Plague  be  on  the  house  of  Hanan,  — 
A  plague  on  them  by  reason  of  their  plots  ! 

Plague  be  on  the  house  of  Catherus, — 
A  plague  on  them  by  reason  of  their  shames  ! 

Plague  be  upon  the  house  of  Ishmael  the  son  of  Fabi, — 
A  plague  on  them  by  reason  of  their  fists  !  — 

These  are  our  high-priests,  their  sons  are  our  treasurers; 
Their  sons-in-law  overseers  ;  their  slaves  beat  us  with  clubs  ! " 

Bloody  quarrels  daily  broke  out  in  the  streets  of  Jeru- 
salem. In  vain,  during  the  administration  of  Felix,  the 
high-priest  remonstrated  with  the  procurator ;  such  inter- 
ference only  caused  exasperation.  Felix  employed  the 
Sicarii,  who  might  be  described  in  modern  slang  as  the 
"  roughs  "  of  the  zealous  party,  to  insult  and  assassinate  his 
enemies.  The  Sicarii  were  a  band  of  Jewish  bravoes  who 
carried  short  swords  under  their  cloaks.  Felix  commanded 


302  JUDEA. 

a  party  of  them  to  enter  the  Temple  during  service,  and 
strike  the  high-priest  dead. 

"  From  that  moment,"  says  Josephus,  when  relating  this 
event,  "  God  hated  His  guilty  city,  and  disdaining  any  longer 
to  dwell  in  His  contaminated  Temple,  brought  the  Romans 
to  purify  with  fire  the  sins  of  the  nation." 

After  this  assassination  of  the  high- priest,  the  Sadducees 
and  their  Sicarii  became  masters  of  Jerusalem.  No  man 
was  safe  from  sudden  assassination.  Outlaws  and  robbers 
increased  throughout  the  country,  and  fanatics  who  believed 
themselves  to  be  patriots,  or  rather  defenders  of  the  faith, 
made  everywhere  resistance  to  the  Romans. 

The  Emperor  Claudius,  shortly  before  his  death,  had 
put  the  young  Agrippa  in  possession  of  all  his  father's 
dominions,  in  addition  to  the  kingdom  of  Chalcis  and  the 
guardianship  of  the  Temple. 

Ananias,  the  high-priest,  who  had  been  sent  in  chains  to 
Rome  at  the  close  of  the  administration  of  Cumanus,  was 
detained  there  for  some  years,  and  his  office  was  meantime 
filled  by  a  sagan,  the  afterwards  murdered  Jonathan.  After 
this  murder  Ananias  for  a  time  resumed  his  office,  and 
he  was  the  personage  in  whom  Saint  Paul  failed  to  rec- 
ognize the  high-priest,  when  he  was  brought  before  the 
Sanhedrim. 

The  forty  men  who  under  oath  bound  themselves  to  slay 
Paul,  were  probably  Sicarii,  hired  for  this  purpose  by  the 
priests,  who  frequently  availed  themselves  of  the  services 
of  such  ruffians ;  for  a  bitter  schism,  as  I  have  said,  had 
broken  out  between  the  superior  and  inferior  orders  of  the 
priesthood. 

Agrippa,  during  the  sixteen  years  in  which  he  exer- 
cised the  power  of  appointment,  made  seven  high-priests. 

It  was  in  these  days,  when  Hanan  (Ananias)  was  in 
office  (he  was  son  of  the  Annas  who  shares  the  guilt  of 
our  Lord's  crucifixion),  and  during  an  absence  of  Agrippa 
from  Jerusalem,  that  Saint  James  the  Less,  brother  (or 
cousin)  of  our  Lord,  and  head  of  the  Christian  Church  in 
Jerusalem,  was  brought  before  the  Sanhedrim,  together  with 


FELIX,  FESTUS,   FLORUS.  303 

some  other  leading  Christians,  and  charged  with  blasphemy. 
They  were  condemned  to  death,  and  stoned  immediately. 

"  The  authority  of  Agrippa  was  needful  to  the  assem- 
bling of  the  Sanhedrim,  and  that  of  the  procurator  was 
legally  necessary  to  confirm  a  death  sentence,  but  the 
furious  Hanan  set  himself  above  all  rules.  James  was 
stoned  near  the  Temple,  and  since  there  was  some  diffi- 
culty in  carrying  out  the  sentence,  his  head  was  crushed  by 
a  fuller  with  his  beating-club."  * 

James  had  been  looked  on  as  a  champion  of  the  poor. 
He  had  always  conformed  to  legal  rites,  and  was  beloved 
by  the  oppressed  and  needy.  Almost  the  whole  population 
of  Jerusalem  joined  in  urging  King  Agrippa  to  restrain  the 
power  of  the  high-priest. 

Festus  had  died  in  office,  and  his  successor  Albinus,  on 
his  way  from  Alexandria,  was  met  by  complaints  of  Hanan 
and  an  account  of  his  crimes.  Agrippa  too  joined  the 
procurator  on  his  journey  and  told  him  the  same  story.  As 
soon  as  they  reached  Jerusalem  Hanan  was  deposed.  He 
had  ruled  only  three  months,  and  was  the  fifth  son  (or 
son-in-law)  of  Annas  who  was  elevated  to  the  high- 
priesthood. 

All  men  in  those  days,  Jews,  Christians,  or  heathen, 
were  in  a  state  of  ferment.  All  were  fearfully  looking  for 
portents  which  would  foretell  some  great  and  terrifying 
event. 

"  A  sort  of  strange  insanity,"  says  M.  Renan,  "prevailed 
in  those  days  in  Jerusalem.  Anarchy  was  at  its  height. 
The  Zealots,  though  decimated  by  executions,  were  masters 
of  the  situation.  Albinus,  no  way  a  man  like  Festus,  sought 
to  make  profit  of  these  bandits  by  connivance  with  them."  1 
At  this  time  through  the  streets  by  day  and  night  roamed  a 
fanatic,  crying  incessantly  :  "  A  voice  from  the  East !  A 
voice  from  the  West !  A  voice  from  the  four  winds ! 
A  voice  against  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple  !  A  voice 
against  the  bridegroom  and  his  bride  !  A  voice  against 
all  the  people  !  Woe,  woe,  to  Jerusalem  ! " 
1  Renan,  Antichrist. 


304  JUDEA. 

The  murder  of  the  Apostle  Saint  James  tool:  place 
A.  D.  62,  eight  years  before  the  destruction  of  the  Temple. 
No  successor  was  appointed  as  head  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  Jerusalem,  but  after  his  death  his  fellow-Chris- 
tians, recalling  the  words  of  their  Lord,  and  believing  that 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  at  hand,  began  to  retire 
from  the  city,  until  all  were  safe  from  impending  catas- 
trophe beyond  Jordan  in  the  dominion  of  Agrippa,  in  the 
place  once  occupied  by  Alexander's  veterans,  —  the  city 
of  Pella. 

During  the  administration  of  Festus,  King  Agrippa 
resided  in  Jerusalem,  his  abode  being  the  palace  of  the 
Asmoneans  on  Mount  Zion,  over  against  the  Temple. 
There  he  built  himself  "a  lofty  pleasure  house,"  — a  tower 
which  on  its  summit  contained  a  chamber,  in  which  he 
could  recline  and  enjoy  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole 
city,  but  especially  he  could  look  down  into  the  Temple 
courts,  and  watch  all  that  went  on  there.  The  priests 
were  indignant  at  this  intrusion  on  their  privacy,  and  ran 
up  a  high  wall,  which  deprived  the  king  of  his  view  of  the 
Temple.  He  and  Festus  gave  orders  to  have  this  wall 
taken  down.  The  priests  resisted,  and  appealed  to  Caesar. 
Josephus  was  one  of  the  delegation  sent  to  plead  the 
cause  of  the  priests  before  Nero.  By  the  influence  of 
Nero's  wife,  Poppaea,  who,  if  not  a  proselyte  to  Judaism,  at 
least  favored  the  Jews,  the  wall  was  permitted  to  stand, 
but  the  high-priest  and  several  Jews  of  rank  who  had  come 
up  to  Rome  with  the  delegation  were  detained  in  the 
capital. 

Agrippa  had  thus  the  advantage  of  appointing  a  new 
high-priest,  Joseph  Kabi.  In  four  years  he  had  made 
five. 

Albinus,  when  he  succeeded  Festus,  found  himself  much 
embarrassed  by  brigands  and  outlaws.  He  was  unable  to 
restrain  the  Zealots  and  Sicarii  who  infested  the  city ;  he 
therefore  made  an  arrangement  with  them  by  which  they 
paid  for  his  protection.  He  also  received  bribes  from 
Ananias,  who  had  been  high-priest,  but  was  now  the  leader 


FELIX,  FESTUS,  FLO  R  US.  305 

of  a  political  party.  He  bargained  with  the  outlaws  that 
whenever  one  of  them  was  arrested  his  comrades  were  to 
seize  an  adherent  of  Ananias,  who  would  then  see  that 
the  robber  was  released,  and  so  effect  an  exchange  of 
captives. 

Agrippa,  now  foreseeing  what  must  be  the  fate  of 
Jerusalem,  planned  for  himself  a  city  of  refuge  at  Caesarea- 
Philippi.  There  he  built  a  theatre,  and  at  Berytus  (Bey- 
rout)  he  erected  a  magnificent  amphitheatre  to  be  used 
for  gladiatorial  games. 

Meantime  in  Jerusalem,  under  Albinus,  things  went  from 
bad  to  worse.  Deposed  high-priests,  followed  by  armed 
adherents,  attacked  each  other  in  the  streets.  Albinus,  who 
was  held  responsible  for  these  disorders,  was  recalled,  but 
before  he  left  Jerusalem  he  opened  the  prison  doors  (pos- 
sibly in  fulfilment  of  some  bargain  with  the  Sicarii)  and  let 
loose  a  crowd  of  malefactors.  These  spread  through  the 
country,  carrying  into  the  rural  districts  ruin  and  dismay. 

Added  to  this,  in  the  year  64  A.D.  work  upon  Herod's 
Temple  was  completed.  Eighteen  thousand  workmen  were 
thrown  out  of  employment.  Then  the  older,  wiser  men 
left  in  Jerusalem  besought  King  Agrippa  to  find  work  for 
them  by  adding  to  the  magnificence  of  the  Eastern  Gate, 
and  appropriating  for  that  purpose  funds  from  the  Temple 
treasury.  But  Agrippa  refused  to  touch  the  money  in  the 
Temple.  To  do  this,  he  feared,  might  raise  such  a  revolt  in 
Jerusalem  as  had  attended  the  attempt  of  Pontius  Pilate  to 
build  an  aqueduct.  But  he  ordered  that  the  streets  of 
the  city  should  be  paved  with  stones,  which  employed  some 
part  of  the  men  thrown  out  of  work  by  the  completion  of 
the  Temple. 

The  problems  that  perplex  us  in  modern  times  seem  to 
have  been  embarrassing  to  rulers  in  the  days  of  the  Herods. 

To  Albinus  succeeded  Gessius  Florus  (A.D.  64),  who  was, 
by  all  accounts,  the  worst  Roman  procurator  ever  appointed 
to  govern  Judea.  He  obtained  the  office  through  the 
influence  of  his  wife  Cleopatra  over  the  Empress  Poppaea. 
Strong  in  court  favor  he  did  what  he  would  in  his  unfor- 


306  JUDEA. 

tunate  province,  acting  independently  of  his  superior,  Cestius 
Gallus,  the  Legate  of  Syria,  whenever  it  suited  his  purpose 
or  his  pleasure  to  do  so. 

Cruel  and  rapacious,  he  united  the  evil  qualities  of  Felix 
and  Albinus ;  and,  as  Cestius  Gallus  did  nothing  to  oppose 
him,  there  seemed  no  way  of  checking  his  excesses.  The 
Jews,  as  it  were,  were  given  over  to  his  will. 

On  one  occasion  when  Cestius  visited  Jerusalem,  the 
leading  men  of  that  city  appeared  before  him,  and  laid 
charges  against  Florus.  Floras  stood  beside  the  procon- 
sul, and  listened  to  the  complaints  heaped  up  against  him, 
laughing  as,  one  by  one,  his  iniquities  were  enumerated, 
and  his  villanies  exposed.  At  length  the  farce  was  ended, 
when  Cestius  Gallus  said  gravely  that  he  would  admonish 
the  procurator  to  be  more  just  and  lenient  in  future. 

Excitement  in  Jerusalem  rose  to  a  great  height  when  at 
this  time  a  comet  appeared  in  the  sky,  and  other  marvellous 
lights  illuminated  the  heavens. 

Florus,  secure  of  impunity,  accepted  large  bribes  from 
some  of  the  Jews  to  afford  them  justice,  and  then  contempt- 
uously refused  to  do  what  he  had  been  paid  for.  Josephus, 
who  lays  the  blame  of  all  that  afterwards  took  place  chiefly 
on  Florus,  "thinks,"  says  Dean  Milman,  "that  it  was  the 
procurator's  deliberate  purpose  to  drive  the  people  into 
insurrection,  both  that  all  enquiry  into  his  oppressions  might 
be  drowned  by  the  din  of  war,  and  that  he  might  have 
better  opportunities  for  plunder."  Especially  did  he  desire 
such  a  tumult  as  would  authorize  him  to  sack  the  treasury 
of  the  Temple.  To  this  end  he  advanced  with  a  large 
force  on  Jerusalem  from  Caesarea,  which  he  left  in  a  state 
of  insurrection.  To  his  surprise  and  disappointment,  the 
population  of  Jerusalem  offered  him  no  pretext  for  massa- 
cre or  plunder.  He  was  received  as  if  he  had  been  a 
public  benefactor.  But  when  he  had  taken  up  his  resi- 
dence in  the  palace  of  the  Herods  he  summoned  the  high- 
priest,  and  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  before  his  judgment 
seat,  and  required  that  all  who  had  ventured  to  insult  him 
in  certain  street  tumults,  which  had  followed  his  demand 


FELIX,  FESTUS,   FLORUS.  307 

for  seventeen  talents,  should  be  delivered  over  to  his 
vengeance. 

As  the  authorities  declared  they  would  be  unable  to 
detect  those  guilty  of  insulting  cries,  Floras  let  loose  his 
soldiers  on  the  city,  and  three  thousand  six  hundred  Jews, 
men,  women,  and  children,  including  many  who  were  Ro- 
man citizens,  were  indiscriminately  massacred.  Agrippa 
was  not  at  that  time  in  Jerusalem,  but  Berenice  was  there, 
and  exerted  herself  most  bravely  on  behalf  of  her  country- 
men. She  sent  repeated  messages  to  Florus  imploring  him 
to  restrain  the  violence  of  his  soldiers,  and  at  last  with  her 
hair  dishevelled,  and  her  feet  bare,  she  appeared  as  a 
suppliant  before  his  tribunal.  But  Florus,  bent  on  plunder- 
ing rich  Jews  and  their  still  richer  Temple,  was  deaf  to  the 
pleadings  of  Berenice.  In  her  very  presence  Jews  for 
whom  she  implored  mercy  were  scourged  and  murdered. 
Utterly  discouraged,  the  Asmonean  princess  was  forced  to 
return  to  her  own  palace,  where  all  night  she  apprehended 
an  attack  from  the  soldiers  of  Florus,  which  could  scarcely 
have  been  resisted  by  her  scanty  body-guard. 

In  vain  the  leading  Sadducees  and  officials  of  the  Tem- 
ple implored  the  populace  to  restrain  their  indignation, 
and  not  to  further  exasperate  the  Roman  procurator.  The 
people  listened,  partly  from  respect,  and  partly  from  de- 
spair. But  Florus  was  far  from  being  pleased  with  their 
submission.  He  had  expected  that  their  excitement  would 
give  him  fresh  grounds  for  sack  and  plunder.  He  demanded 
as  a  proof  of  their  complete  submission  that  the  population 
of  Jerusalem  should  go  forth  to  receive  two  Roman  co- 
horts then  on  their  march  from  Csesarea,  and  welcome 
them  into  the  city. 

This  seemed  too  much  to  ask  from  zealous  Jews  made 
furious  by  the  murder  of  their  relatives  and  friends,  but 
the  priests  assembled  the  people  in  the  court  of  the  Tem- 
ple, and  falling  down  before  them,  with  their  sacred  vest- 
ments rent,  implored  them  not  to  bring  certain  ruin  on  the 
city  by  defying  the  governor. 

They  yielded,  and  the  priests  led  forth  the  procession  of 


308  JUDEA. 

welcome.  But  the  cohorts,  already  instructed  by  Florus, 
paid  no  attention  to  the  Jews  or  to  their  greeting.  This 
conduct  led  some  to  curse  the  soldiers  for  their  impertinent 
indifference,  and,  enraged  by  this  affront,  the  Romans  set 
upon  the  multitude  with  blows.  Horsemen  trampled  down 
the  fallen,  and  numbers  of  men  in  the  procession  were 
slain. 

By  the  time  the  cohorts  reached  the  city  the  whole 
population  was  afoot  and  in  arms,  and  to  prevent  the 
plunder  of  the  Temple  treasury  all  communication  was 
cut  off  between  the  sacred  precincts  and  the  Castle  of 
Antonia.  This  brought  Florus  to  terms.  He  sent  for  the 
chief  men  of  Jerusalem,  and  offered  to  withdraw  his 
soldiers  from  the  city,  leaving  only  one  cohort  to  preserve 
peace.  These  terms  having  been  arranged,  Florus  retired 
in  safety  to  Cassarea.  But  both  the  priests  and  chief  men 
among  the  Jews  (the  latter  supported  by  the  influence  of 
Berenice)  sent  delegations  to  Cestius  Gallus,  the  result  of 
which  was  that  he  determined  to  repair  himself  to  Jerusalem 
to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  revolt,  to  restore  Roman 
authority,  and  punish  the  guilty. 

Agrippa,  then  on  his  way  from  Egypt,  was  met  when 
he  arrived  at  Jamnia  by  an  agent  sent  to  Jerusalem  by 
Cestius  Gallus  to  make  a  report  on  the  state  of  affairs,  and 
also  by  a  deputation  of  the  Jews.  He  was  at  first  un- 
willing to  commit  himself  by  expressing  any  opinions, 
but  on  his  journey,  when  within  seven  or  eight  miles  from 
Jerusalem,  he  was  received  by  a  weeping  procession  of 
the  wives  and  mothers  of  the  slain,  who  recounted  all  the 
wrongs  that  they  had  suffered  from  the  cruelty  and  rapac- 
ity of  the  procurator.  On  his  entrance  into  the  city,  he  and 
the  agent  of  Cestius  Gallus  were  shown  the  ruined  market- 
place which  had  been  the  principal  scene  of  the  massacre, 
the  plundered  shops,  and  deserted  houses.  The  city  ap- 
peared to  be  in  perfect  peace.  The  agent,  who  seems 
to  have  been  a  Jewish  proselyte,  performed  his  devotions 
in  the  Temple,  and  then  returned  to  the  proconsul,  favor- 
ably impressed  by  the  demeanor  of  the  Jews. 


FELIX,  FESTUS,  FLORUS.  309 

Agrippa  next  addressed  the  populace  in  an  eloquent  and 
persuasive  speech,  fully  reported  by  Josephus,  who  prob- 
ably heard  it.  He  said  that  he  did  not  advise  them  to 
send  an  embassy  to  Nero  stating  their  grievances  in  angry 
terms,  for  they  might  feel  sure  that  through  his  influence 
at  court,  a  milder  government  would  be  accorded  them. 
He  exhorted  them  to  lay  aside  thoughts  of  independence, 
reminding  them  that  other  nations  as  brave  and  determined 
as  they  were,  but  more  powerful,  had  been  unable  to  resist 
the  all-conquering  arm  of  Rome ;  he  instanced  the  Ger- 
mans and  the  Gauls,  the  Parthians  and  the  Greeks ;  nay, 
in  his  zeal,  with  little  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  what 
to  him  was  a  far  northern  region  wrapped  in  darkness,  he 
alluded  to  recent  Roman  triumphs  in  Britain. 

"  Do  you  also,"  he  said,  "  who  place  your  dependence 
on  the  strong  walls  of  Jerusalem,  consider  what  a  wall  the 
Britons  had  ?  For  the  Romans  sailed  away  to  them,  and 
subdued  them,  though  they  were  encompassed  by  the 
ocean,  and  inhabited  an  island  that  is  not  less  than  the 
continent  of  this  habitable  world." 

Was  this  unconscious  prophecy,  —  fulfilled  in  our  own 
nineteenth  century,  when  the  imperial  sway  of  that  small 
island  extends  over  far  more  than  the  then  "  habitable 
world ;  "  when  the  whole  extent  of  the  mighty  empire  of 
Nero  would  be  as  nothing  to  the  dominions  of  its  Queen  ? 
As  Agrippa  dwelt  upon  the  horrors  of  war,  and  the 
danger  of  destruction  which  persistence  in  revolt  would 
bring  upon  their  city  and  their  holy  Temple,  he  ended  in 
tears,  and  Berenice,  who  stood  above  him  on  a  balcony, 
wept  aloud.  His  hearers  too  were  melted,  and  cried  out 
with  one  voice  that  they  had  no  intention  of  making  war 
against  the  Romans,  that  their  revolt  was  only  against  Florus. 
To  prove  this,  Agrippa  urged  them  to  see  that  arrears  of 
tribute  were  forthwith  collected,  and  that  the  way  that  led 
from  the  cloisters  of  the  Temple  across  the  Tyropean  ravine 
to  the  Castle  of  Antonia,  should  be  at  once  repaired.  In- 
stantly all  set  to  work  with  zeal  to  accomplish  these  two 
objects  ;  Agrippa,  and  even  Berenice,  not  only  encouraging 
the  workmen,  but  assisting  them. 


3IO  JUDEA. 

Alas  !  these  noble  efforts  at  pacification  ended  in  dis- 
appointment. Agrippa  stretched  his  influence  too  far  when 
he  exhorted  the  people  to  be  content  with  the  government 
of  the  detested  Florus  until  such  time  as  Rome  should  send 
them  another  procurator.  The  very  name  of  Florus  roused 
the  multitude  to  fury.  They  broke  into  reproaches,  insults, 
and  invectives  against  Agrippa.  They  flung  stones  at  him, 
and  menaced  his  brave  sister.  In  sorrow  and  wrath, 
despairing  of  the  future,  and  no  longer  seeing  any  means 
by  which  ruin  to  the  nation  and  the  Temple  might  be 
averted,  Agrippa  and  Berenice  quitted  Jerusalem,  not  to 
return  to  it  until  its  doom  had  been  accomplished,  its  walls 
thrown  down,  its  Temple  burned,  and  its  only  inhabitants, 
a  cohort  of  fierce  Romans,  put  in  charge  of  its  ruins. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

JOSEPHUS. 

A  NEW  person  comes  upon  the  stage  at  the  close  of  this 
^*-  deplorable  history,  —  Flavius  Josephus.  Flavius  was 
a  Roman  name  adopted  in  his  middle  life,  out  of  compli- 
ment to  the  Flavian  family,  his  Roman  patrons.  He  was 
born  in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Caligula  (Caius 
Caesar),  A.  D.  37.  His  father  not  only  belonged  to  a 
priestly  family,  but  was  a  chief-priest  of  the  first  course, 
from  which,  before  the  elevation  of  the  Maccabees,  the 
high-priests  were  taken.  He  was  also  of  the  royal  Asmon- 
ean  family, —  one  of  his  ancestors,  his  great-great-grand- 
father, having  married  the  daughter  of  Jonathan  the 
high-priest,  the  son  of  Mattathiah. 

The  lad  Josephus  seems  to  have  been  early  distinguished 
for  intelligence  and  learning;  so  much  so  that,  if  we  may 
believe  his  own  account,  priests  and  doctors  of  the  Law 
frequently  interrogated  him,  and  listened  with  respect  to 
his  opinions.  He  also  tells  us  that  when  still  very  young 
he  determined  to  examine  for  himself  the  various  sects 
among  the  Jews,  that  he  might  decide  with  which  of  them 
he  would  ally  himself  as  he  grew  older.  He  rejected  the 
Sadducees  with  little  hesitation.  He  was  attracted  by  the 
piety  and  purity  of  the  Essenes,  but  to  share  their  conven- 
tual life  would  have  been  little  in  accordance  with  his 
worldly  tastes  and  active  disposition.  He  determined  to  be 
a  Pharisee,  and  spent  some  time  in  the  wilderness  with  one 
Barus,  an  ascetic,  and  from  him  received  instruction. 

When  twenty-three  he  took  a  leading  part  in  an  embassy 
to  Rome,  sent  thither  to  plead  the  cause  of  certain  priests 
who  had  been  put  in  bonds  by  Caesar.  The  ship  on  which 
he  sailed  had  six  hundred  men  on  board,  and  was  wrecked 


312  JUDEA. 

in  the  Adriatic.  Most  of  the  crew  and  passengers  seem  to 
have  perished,  but  Josephus  was  one  of  eighty  who  were 
picked  up  by  a  passing  vessel.  Through  the  influence  of 
the  Empress  Poppaea,  to  whose  notice  he  was  brought  by 
Alitarius,  a  Jewish  actor,  he  obtained  the  release  of  the 
captive  priests,  and  received  gifts  and  favors  from  the 
empress,  of  whom  he  speaks  as  being  a  Jewish  proselyte ; 
which  possibly  accounts  for  her  enmity  to  the  Christians. 

When  Josephus  returned  to  Jerusalem,  he  found  that 
public  feeling  in  that  city  was  strongly  revolutionary,  that 
tumults  broke  out  on  every  occasion,  and  that  it  was  highly 
probable  that  some  rash  revolt  would  be  attempted  against 
the  Romans.  He  endeavored  so  earnestly  to  persuade  all 
who  would  hear  him  that  the  result  of  such  a  step  would 
be  their  ruin,  that  he  became  unpopular,  and,  fearing 
personal  violence,  he  took  up  his  residence  in  the  inner 
court  of  the  Temple  (which,  as  he  was  of  a  priestly  family, 
he  had  a  right  to  do).  And  there  he  found  himself  in 
company  with  a  number  of  other  priests  and  leading 
Pharisees. 

These  were  the  days  of  Gessius  Floras,  to  which  we 
have  already  brought  our  narrative.  Josephus  had  hardly 
taken  refuge  in  the  Temple  when  Agrippa  was  forced  by 
an  excited  mob  to  flee  from  Jerusalem,  and  Josephus  and 
the  conservatives  with  whom  he  acted,  alarmed  by  the 
excesses  of  the  populace,  sent  messages  to  Agrippa  and 
even  to  Florus,  imploring  them  to  come  quickly  with  an 
armed  force  to  Jerusalem,  and  put  an  end  to  the  sedition 
and  anarchy  which  threatened  the  destruction  of  the 
Temple  and  the  ruin  of  the  Jews. 

"Now,"  as  Josephus  himself  phrases  it,  "this  terrible 
message  was  good  news  to  Florus,  and  because  his  design 
was  to  have  a  war  kindled,  he  gave  the  ambassadors  no 
answer  at  all.  But  Agrippa  was  equally  solicitous  for  those 
that  were  revolting,  and  for  those  against  whom  the  war 
was  to  be  made,  and  was  desirous  to  preserve  the  Jews 
for  the  Romans,  and  the  Temple  and  metropolis  for  the 
Jews."  He  therefore  sent  three  thousand  horsemen  to 


NERO. 


JOSEPH  US.  3  1 3 

restore  order.  But  every  day  there  were  fresh  indications 
of  a  spirit  of  revolt  against  the  Romans.  The  strong  for- 
tress of  Masada  on  the  borders  of  the  Dead  Sea  was  cap- 
tured by  insurgents,  and  its  small  Roman  garrison  was  put 
to  the  sword.  Eleazar,  governor  of  the  Temple,  and  cap- 
tain of  its  guard,  became  a  revolutionary  leader,  while 
his  father  Ananias,  the  ex-high-priest,  was  on  the  side  of 
the  conservatives.  Eleazar  persuaded  the  officiating  priests, 
who  were  under  his  authority  in  the  Temple,  to  reject  all 
offerings  made  by  pagans,  although  the  emperors  and  other 
high  officials  had  been  in  the  habit  of  endeavoring  to  pro- 
pitiate the  Jews  (and  possibly  their  Divinity)  by  costly 
gifts ;  in  return  for  which,  sacrifices  were  offered  for  their 
welfare  and  prosperity. 

Eleazar  and  his  Zealots  were  true  prototypes  of  the  old 
Scottish  Cameronians,  as  earnest,  as  fanatical,  as  self- 
devoted,  as  fierce,  and  as  illogical.  In  vain  conservative 
and  learned  men,  supposed  to  possess  influence  among  the 
people  of  Jerusalem,  assembled  the  multitude  in  the  great 
square  before  the  Eastern  Gate  of  the  Temple,  and  earnestly 
exhorted  them  to  preserve  peace  and  order.  They  pro- 
duced not  the  least  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  popular 
party. 

The  capture  of  Masada,  and  the  refusal  to  offer  sacri- 
fices for  the  emperor,  amounted,  as  these  men  of  wisdom 
told  their  hearers,  to  a  declaration  of  war  against  their 
rulers.  Eleazar  and  his  fanatics  took  possession  of  the 
inner  courts  of  the  Temple,  which  thus  contained  two  rival 
factions.  On  the  occasion  of  a  feast,  upon  which  day  it 
was  the  custom  for  worshippers  to  bring  fire-wood  into  the 
building,  a  great  number  of  the  Sicarii  forced  their  way 
from  the  outer  courts  into  the  interior,  while  friends  of  the 
other  party  were  refused  admission.  Then  ensued  a  mas- 
sacre of  the  refugees,  followed  by  an  attack  upon  that 
portion  of  the  city  in  which  were  the  palaces  of  Ananias, 
the  ex-pontiff,  and  Agrippa  and  Berenice,  besides  the  build- 
ing in  which  were  stored  the  public  archives,  state  records, 
and  papers  relating  to  debts  of  all  kinds. 


314  JUDEA. 

All  this  reminds  us  of  what  happened  in  Paris  in  the 
days  of  the  Commune,  when  palaces  and  public  buildings 
were  burnt,  when  the  Grand-Livre,  the  record  of  the  State's 
debt  to  capitalists,  narrowly  escaped  destruction,  and  when 
the  order  Flambez  Finances!  was  issued  by  one  of  the 
heads  of  the  revolutionary  government. 

The  next  day  the  insurgents,  mad  with  their  successes, 
attacked  the  Castle  of  Antonia.  It  was  garrisoned  only  by 
a  few  Roman  soldiers.  In  two  days  it  was  taken,  and  those 
who  had  defended  it  were  put  to  the  sword.  At  this 
crisis,  while  a  few  remaining  conservatives,  adherents  of 
Agrippa,  were  defending  themselves  bravely  in  a  tower 
which  overlooked  the  Temple,  a  new  leader  of  the  insur- 
gents appeared.  This  was  Manahem,  the  only  surviving 
grandson  of  Judas  the  Galilean,  who,  years  before,  had 
preached  that  it  was  impious  for  a  Jew  to  acknowledge  any 
king  but  God,  or  to  pay  tribute  to  Caesar.  With  sudden 
conviction,  born  of  excitement  and  fanaticism,  the  whole 
nation  now  adopted  these  views,  as  Manahem  with  a  band 
of  outlaws,  for  whom  he  had  obtained  weapons  in  the 
armory  of  Masada,  appeared  in  their  city,  and  at  once 
obtained  there  military  command.  At  the  head  of  his 
followers  he  was  received  in  Jerusalem  by  the  insurgents 
as  a  king.  By  his  command  the  great  tower  in  which  the 
conservatives  had  taken  refuge  was  undermined.  It  tot- 
tered and  fell,  with  a  tremendous  crash  ;  but  the  besiegers 
found  to  their  surprise  that  the  chief  priests,  the  Pharisees, 
the  horsemen  of  Agrippa,  and  what  remained  of  the  Roman 
cohort,  were  still  capable  of  making  a  defence  behind  an 
inner  wall.  Then  they  endeavored  to  bring  their  enemies 
to  terms ;  and  Manahem,  willing  to  avoid  further  loss, 
agreed  to  grant  a  safe  passage  to  the  Jews  and  to  the 
soldiers  of  Agrippa.  The  few  Roman  soldiers,  then  left  to 
their  fate,  retreated  into  one  of  the  strong  towers,  built  a 
century  before  by  Herod. 

The  next  day  Ananias  and  his  brother  Hezekiah,  who 
had  been  missing  ever  since  the  destruction  of  their  palace, 
were  discovered  in  one  of  the  subterranean  passages  which 


JOSEPHUS.  3 1 5 

undermine  Jerusalem ;  they  were  dragged  forth,  and  at  once 
massacred.  But  the  murder  of  an  ex-high-priest  was  un- 
popular with  the  masses ;  and  Eleazar,  who  had  not  borne 
with  complacency  the  usurpation  of  his  authority  by  Mana- 
hem,  seized  the  occasion  to  wrest  power  from  his  rival's 
hands.  Murmurs  were  heard  that  Roman  oppression  had 
only  been  exchanged  for  Jewish  tyranny.  Manahem's 
assumption  of  royal  state  was  resented.  The  populace 
declared  for  Eleazar,  and  fell  upon  the  outlaws  whom 
Manahem  had  brought  with  him  into  the  city.  These  fled, 
leaving  their  commander  to  his  fate,  which  was  a  sure  and 
swift  one. 

Then  Eleazar  pressed 'vigorously  the  siege  of  the  towers 
still  held  by  the  Romans.  The  soldiers  offered  to  sur- 
render if  their  lives  were  spared.  They  were  required  to 
deliver  up  their  arms,  and  to  march  out  defenceless.  The 
treaty  was  solemnly  ratified.  But  as  soon  as  the  Roman 
soldiers  came  forth,  and  piled  their  arms,  the  followers  of 
Eleazar  fell  upon  them.  All  perished,  except  Metilius  their 
commander,  who  cried  out  that  he  would  become  a  Jew, 
and  submit  to  circumcision. 

This  atrocious  act  of  treachery,  committed  too  upon  the 
Sabbath  day,  was  sure  to  bring  on  the  devoted  city  punish- 
ment from  God,  and  the  vengeance  of  the  Romans.  No 
sounds  of  triumph  were  heard  in  the  streets,  excitement 
subsided.  The  populace  was  depressed  and  appalled. 
That  same  day,  could  they  have  known  it,  a  terrible  mas- 
sacre of  Jews  took  place  in  Csesarea,  and  the  whole  country, 
driven  to  madness  by  the  hopelessness  of  any  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  Romans,  was  soon  in  open  revolt.  The  hand 
of  the  would-be  patriots  was  against  every  man,  and  the 
hand  of  every  man,  not  of  their  own  party,  was  against 
them.  Not  only  a  rage  for  vengeance,  but  a  desire  for 
plunder  animated  both  parties.  The  mere  record  of  the 
horrors  of  this  warfare  curdles  the  blood. 

The  dominions  of  Agrippa,  consisting  of  the  old  tetrarch- 
ies  of  his  uncle  Philip,  to  which  Nero  had  added  several 
important  cities  in  Galilee,  were  not  without  disturbance. 


JUDEA. 

He  was  at  this  time  at  Antioch  with  Cestius  Gallus,  the 
Legate  of  Syria.  That  officer  was  at  length  roused  into 
collecting  his  forces.  He  sent  one  legion  into  Galilee,  and 
with  others  marched  on  the  revolted  capital.  He  formed 
his  camp  at  Gabaon,  about  six  miles  from  Jerusalem,  but 
his  line  of  retreat,  in  the  event  of  a  defeat,  was  through  the 
narrow  rocky  passes  of  Bethhoron.  The  Jews  saw  the  ad- 
vance of  his  great  army  undismayed.  They  were  excited 
by  their  universal  belief  that  their  own  triumph  under  a 
Messianic  deliverer  was  near  at  hand.  In  these  same  moun- 
tain passes  Joshua  had  overcome  the  Canaanites,  and  Judas 
Maccabaeus  had  defeated  the  army  of  Nicanor.  Now, 
although  it  was  the  Sabbath,  on  which  day  the  Jews  pro- 
fessed only  to  engage  in  defensive  warfare,  crowds  swarmed 
out  of  Jerusalem,  and  fell  upon  the  Romans.  Had  they 
been  under  an  experienced  leader,  their  numbers  and  en- 
thusiasm, in  spite  of  their  want  of  discipline,  might  have 
enabled  them  to  gain  a  complete  victory.  As  it  was,  after 
inflicting  much  loss  upon  the  Romans  they  retired  at 
night- fall. 

Then  Agrippa,  who  was  with  Cestius  and  the  Roman 
forces,  made  a  last  effort  to  bring  his  countrymen  to  reason. 
He  sent  two  of  his  friends  to  offer  a  complete  amnesty  to 
the  people  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  sole  condition  of  surrender. 
One  of  the  envoys  was  killed  by  the  Zealots,  the  other  was 
driven  off  with  sticks  and  stones. 

Meantime  Cestius  advanced  his  troops  within  a  mile  of 
the  northern  side  of  Jerusalem,  and  then,  at  Agrippa's 
intercession,  he  waited  three  days  to  give  the  city  time  to 
consider  his  proposition  to  surrender.  After  that  he  made 
his  attack,  and  took  possession  of  one  of  the  suburbs. 

The  defenders  of  the  city  abandoned  its  outer  walls,  and 
concentrated  their  strength  within  the  walls  of  the  Temple. 
Cestius,  emboldened  by  knowing  that  a  large  party  who 
dreaded  the  triumph  of  the  insurgents,  were  within  the  city, 
carried  on  at  first  a  languid  attack.  But  at  length  he 
roused  himself  to  more  vigorous  action.  The  fight  from 
the  Temple  cloisters  became  terrible.  From  the  tops  of 


JOSEPHUS.  317 

these  cloisters  the  Jews  hurled  arrows,  stones,  and  javelins 
on  the  Roman  legionaries,  and  repeatedly  repulsed  them. 
Then  the  Romans  formed  what  was  called  a  testudo.  It 
was  a  roof  of  shields,  each  row  fitting  over  the  other  like 
scales.  Protected  by  this  device,  the  soldiers  began  to 
undermine  the  wall  of  the  Temple,  and  attempted  to  set 
fire  to  its  gates.  The  insurgents  were  becoming  dis- 
couraged, and  the  peace  party  was  planning  to  open  the 
gates  to  Cestius,  when  he  suddenly  sounded  an  order  to 
retreat.  History  has  never  known  what  induced  him  to 
draw  off  his  forces  at  the  moment  of  apparent  victory.  It 
may  have  been  the  feeling  at  that  time  prevalent  among 
Roman  generals,  warned  by  the  disgrace  and  death  of  the 
victorious  Corbulo,  that  a  conqueror  was  more  likely  to 
lose  the  favor  of  the  mad  Emperor  Nero,  than  he  who  suf- 
fered a  defeat. 

As  soon  as  the  Jews  found  Cestius  was  retreating  they 
fell  upon  his  army  in  great  numbers.  On  the  third  day  he 
decided  to  abandon  his  camp  at  Gabaon  and  to  descend 
the  mountain  on  its  northern  side.  That  his  retreat  might 
be  rapid,  he  ordered  his  soldiers  to  throw  away  everything 
but  their  arms. 

The  passage  of  the  Romans  through  the  mountain  passes 
was  like  the  celebrated  retreat  of  the  British  army  through 
the  Khyber  Pass  in  January,  1842.  The  Jews  crowded  the 
hilltops,  and  cast  their  missiles  down  on  the  toiling  and  dis- 
couraged Roman  host  as  the  Afghans  from  the  summit  of 
their  precipices  fired  down  upon  the  British  army.  Flight 
and  resistance  were  alike  impossible.  All  that  could  be 
done  was  to  struggle  on.  The  whole  Roman  army  must 
have  perished,  like  the  British  army  in  the  mountains  of 
Afghanistan,  had  not  darkness  intervened  to  save  them. 
The  Jews  ceased  their  attack  when  the  light  failed,  and 
such  Romans  as  could  disengage  themselves  from  the  de- 
files made  their  way  into  the  deserted  camp  at  Bethhoron. 
But  there  the  wearied  soldiers  were  not  suffered  to  repose. 
Headed  by  their  commander  they  marched  on  through  the 
night  —  all  but  four  hundred,  who  were  left  to  deceive  the 


3  1 8  JUDEA. 

Jews  by  watchfires  and  the  display  of  ensigns.  These  all 
met  death  when  at  break  of  day  the  Jews  discovered  that 
the  main  body  of  their  enemies  had  escaped  out  of  their 
hands. 

The  Jewish  leaders  who  had  most  distinguished  them- 
selves on  this  occasion  were  the  two  princes  of  Adiabene 
and  two  former  officers  of  Herod  Agrippa,  Silas  and  Niger. 
Simon,  the  son  of  Gioras,  who  afterwards  became  a  noted 
insurgent,  and  indeed  was  considered  by  the  Romans  the 
Jewish  chief  commander  in  after  days,  hung  on  the  rear  of 
the  retreating  army,  cutting  off  stragglers,  and  beasts  laden 
with  supplies. 

This  defeat  of  Roman  legions  by  undisciplined  insurgents 
and  fanatics  was  unparalleled  in  Roman  history.  It  took 
place  in  November,  A.D.  66.  The  defeated  army  made 
its  way  to  Antipatris,  while  the  Jews,  loaded  with  spoils, 
exultant,  and  now  confident  that  the  fulfilment  of  the  pre- 
dictions of  their  prophets  was  at  hand,  returned  in  triumph 
to  their  city.  Cestius  died  not  long  after ;  Tacitus  hints 
that  he  owed  his  death  to  his  disgrace. 

Josephus,  a  member  of  the  Conservative  party,  which  was 
unable  to  restrain  the  populace  in  Jerusalem,  joined  his 
colleagues  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  some  influence  over  his 
fellow-citizens  by  not  openly  opposing  them.  Their  vic- 
tory over  Cestius  was,  he  says,  the  calamity  of  the  whole 
nation,  "  for  those  who  were  for  war  were  so  far  elated  with 
their  success  that  they  had  hopes  of  finally  conquering  the 
Romans."  Their  temporary  triumph,  on  the  other  hand, 
stirred  up  their  enemies,  and  throughout  the  East  led  to 
the  most  terrible  massacres. 

Meantime  an  attempt  in  Jerusalem  was  made  to  form 
something  like  a  national  government  by  re-establishing  the 
authority  of  the  Sanhedrim,  which  held  its  meetings  in  the 
Temple. 

Friends  and  followers  of  the  Herodian  family,  and  the 
adherents  of  Agrippa,  left  the  city.  The  princes  of  Adia- 
bene also  joined  Cestius,  who  sent  them  to  Caesar  to  render 
him  an  account  of  what  had  taken  place  in  Palestine. 


JOSEPH  US.  319 

Nero  was  then  in  Achaia,  where  he  had  gone  to  com- 
plete his  artistic  triumphs  by  carrying  off  all  the  prizes  in 
the  Grecian  games,  in  athletics,  chariot- driving,  theatrical 
representations,  and  above  all,  as  a  public  singer. 

He  is,  in  this  year  A.D.  66,  thus  characterized  in  the 
volume  entitled  "Antichrist,"  by  M.  Renan.1  In  Rome  at 
court,  "with  Petronius  had  disappeared  everything  that 
could  be  called  taste,  tact,  or  courtesy.  Colossal  self-love 
gave  Nero  a  burning  thirst  to  grasp  at  every  sort  of  glory 
in  the  world ;  so  that,  says  Suetonius,  he  was  '  the  rival  of 
any  man  who  could  in  any  way  touch  the  fancy  of  the 
vulgar.'  He  pursued  those  who  attracted  public  attention 
with  a  bitter  jealousy ;  to  succeed,  in  no  matter  what,  came 
to  be  a  crime  against  the  State.  It  is  said  that  he  even  tried 
to  stop  the  sale  of  Lucan's  works.  He  aspired  to  such 
fame  as  never  had  been  known ;  '  eager  for  things  incredi- 
ble,' says  Tacitus.  Vast  projects  were  revolving  in  his 
head,  —  to  cut  through  the  isthmus  of  Corinth,  to  dig  a 
canal  from  Baiae  to  Ostia,  to  discover  the  sources  of  the 
Nile." 

There  is  no  need  to  dwell  on  the  fantastic  freaks  of  Nero 
at  this  period  ;  we  have  all  been  made  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  them  in  the  pages  of  "  Quo  Vadis." 

He  was  a  man  of  some  natural  talent,  but  over-educated 
in  a  superficial  way ;  intrusted  early  with  autocratic  power, 
with  no  public  opinion,  religion,  or  code  of  morality  to 
impose  any  check  on  his  caprices,  and  when  insanity  un- 
settled his  intellect  it  took  the  form  of  overmastering  per- 
sonal vanity. 

He  had  been  only  a  few  days  in  Greece,  when  news 
reached  him  of  the  defeat  of  Cestius.  He  was  so  absorbed 
in  the  contemplation  of  fresh  triumphs  in  the  arena,  that 
he  received  with  indifference  tidings  of  the  discomfiture 
of  Roman  legions.  He  did  not  seem  at  first  to  understand 
that  if  the  East,  emboldened  by  the  unlooked-for  successes 

1  The  design  of  this  volume  is  to  point  out  that  Nero  was  the 
Antichrist  of  the  Apocalypse,  —  that  that  mysterious  book  is  rather 
historical  than  prophetical,  and  that  it  was  written  about  this  period. 


320  JUDEA. 

of  the  Jews,  should  burst  into  a  flame,  his  empire  might 
soon  crumble  to  pieces.  Those  around  him,  however,  con- 
vinced him  that  it  was  necessary  to  send  speedily  to  the 
war  an  experienced  general.  But  this  general  must  be  a 
man  who  could  in  no  respect  be  Nero's  rival,  —  a  man 
whom  the  most  brilliant  success  as  a  military  commander 
could  never  convert  into  Nero's  supplanter. 

Such  a  man  was  not  far  to  seek.  At  that  very  moment 
he  was  in  the  court  circle  at  Athens,  but  for  the  moment 
he  was  under  the  emperor's  grave  displeasure ;  so  much 
so  that,  when  an  imperial  functionary  came  to  announce  to 
him  his  appointment  to  command  the  armies  in  Syria,  he 
thought  he  beheld  in  him  a  messenger  of  death. 

Titus  Flavius  Vespasianus  was  a  man  of  low  birth,  and 
of  bourgeois  manners.  He  had  risen  by  honesty,  fidelity, 
and  military  ability  to  the  highest  offices,  both  in  civil  life 
and  in  the  army.  He  had  fought  with  great  bravery  and 
distinction  in  Germany,  and  his  campaign  in  Britain  had 
procured  a  triumph  for  the  Emperor  Claudius,  who  appro- 
priated the  honor  due  to  his  general.  But  on  'a  public 
occasion  when  Nero  was  exhibiting  his  fine  voice  to  an 
applauding  audience,  he  had  fallen 'asleep,  for  he  was  sixty 
years  of  age,  and  inclined  to  somnolency. 

He  had  made  a  marriage  which,  although  it  allied  him 
with  the  family  of  the  Flavii,  was  no  passport  to  good 
society,  and  he  had  two  sons  :  Titus  and  Domitian.  The 
former  of  these  was  a  young  man  of  handsome  person,  bril- 
liant parts,  high-vaulting  ambition,  and  social  aspirations. 

A  new  legate,  Mucian  by  name,  was  appointed  to  suc- 
ceed Cestius  in  Syria,  and  Vespasian,  having  despatched 
his  son  Titus  to  bring  him  fresh  troops  from  Alexandria, 
travelled  over-land  with  all  speed  to  Syria. 

The  Sanhedrim  selected  as  governors  of  the  various  dis- 
tricts of  Judea  men  of  mark  and  influence.  Two  of  the 
chief-priests  (in  other  words,  two  of  the  leading  nobles) 
were  sent  to  Idumea,  superseding  Niger  of  Perea,  although 
he  had  acquired  reputation  in  the  first  encounter  with 
Cestius ;  an  Essene  was  appointed  over  the  district  border- 


JOSEPHUS.  321 

ing  the  Dead  Sea,  inhabited  by  his  coreligionists;  three 
other  men  of  influential  families  were  selected  to  control 
and  govern  smaller  toparchies ;  while  Galilee,  the  most 
important  of  all,  was  intrusted  to  Josephus,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  two  colleagues,  Judas  and  Joazar. 

The  Sanhedrim  must  have  felt  great  confidence  in  the 
ability  and  zeal  of  this  young  man,  then  only  thirty-three, 
for  Galilee  was  their  most  important  post,  the  most  tur- 
bulent of  the  provinces,  the  one  certain  to  be  first  invaded 
by  the  Romans.  It  did  not  disqualify  Josephus  that  he 
was  known  to  be  a  friend  of  King  Agrippa,  whose  domin- 
ions adjoined  Galilee,  and  who  had  within  its  borders  three 
important  cities. 

"  The  province  of  Galilee,"  says  Dean  Milman,  "  was 
divided  into  two  districts,  called  Upper  and  Lower  Galilee. 
It  contained  all  the  territory  which  had  belonged  to  the 
northern  tribes  of  Napthali,  Zebulon,  Issachar,  and  half 
Manasseh,  reaching  to  the  district  of  Ptolemais  on  the 
north  and  Samaria  on  the  south.  The  Jordan  was  its  east- 
ern limit.  The  people  were  a  bold,  hardy,  and  warlike 
race,  considered  somewhat  barbarous  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  metropolis,  and  speaking  a  harsh  and  guttural  dialect 
of  the  Syro-Chaldean  language,  which  was  the  vernacular 
tongue  of  Palestine.  The  country  was  remarkably  rich, 
abounding  in  pasture,  corn  land,  and  fruits  of  every  de- 
scription. The  population  was  very  great.  Its  people 
lived  in  cities  which  were  numerous  and  large,  and  in  great 
open  villages,  '  the  least  of  which,'  says  Josephus,  '  con- 
tained 15,000  inhabitants.'  In  many  of  these  cities  there 
was  a  mingled  population  of  Syrians  and  Jews,  rarely  on  an 
amicable  footing,  often  forming  fierce  and  hostile  factions. 
Sepphoris  was  the  capital,  but  that  rank  was  disputed  by 
Tiberias  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee." 

Josephus  at  once  set  himself  to  bring  both  the  civil  and 
military  administration  of  his  province  into  an  organized 
system.  He  appointed  seventy  men  of  wealth  and  influ- 
ence to  form  a  sort  of  provincial  Sanhedrim,  and  seven 
local  magistrates  in  each  city  for  the  administration  of 


322  JUDEA. 

justice.  In  pursuance  of  a  policy  kept  up  by  Oriental 
rulers  to  the  present  day,  he  enlisted  the  services  of  the 
bands  of  outlaws  (that  is,  patriots,  insurgents,  robbers,  or 
brigands)  in  the  cause  of  order  and  government.  He 
strengthened  the  fortifications  of  many  cities,  raised  and 
equipped  an  army  of  100,000  men,  and  did  his  best  to  drill 
and  organize  them  after  the  pattern  of  the  Roman  legions. 
But  all  that  he  attempted  in  the  way  of  good  government 
was  opposed  by  a  certain  John  of  Gischala,  the  chief  of  a 
formidable  band  of  Zealots,  to  which  he  would  only  admit 
men  distinguished  for  strength,  bravery,  or  warlike  skill. 

Josephus  early  in  his  administration  was  beset  by  diffi- 
culties concerning  the  beautiful  city  of  Tiberias.  Its  rival, 
Sepphoris,  was  held  by  the  insurgent  Jews  to  be  too  much 
in  sympathy  with  the  Romans.  The  children  of  the  prin- 
cipal citizens  of  that  place  had  been  carried  off  to  Csesarea 
by  Cestius,  as  hostages  for  its  good  behavior.  It  was  there- 
fore maintained  by  many  persons  that  Tiberias  should  be 
considered  the  capital  of  Galilee. 

Josephus,  who,  as  a  member  of  the  priestly  caste,  could  not 
lawfully  enter  the  city  of  Tiberias,  adorned  as  it  was  with 
heathen  statues,  set  up  around  the  palace  built  by  Herod, 
besides  being  built  on  a  site  defiled  by  dead  men's  bones, 
sent  for  its  chief  citizens  to  meet  him  beyond  its  walls  ;  and, 
being  desirous  of  taking  up  his  residence  in  Tiberias  in 
case  of  need,  he  desired  the  destruction  of  Herod's  palace, 
though  it  was  now  the  personal  property  of  King  Agrippa. 

There  were  three  fierce  factions  in  Tiberias  :  one  de- 
sirous of  remaining  faithful  to  Agrippa,  to  whom  Nero  had 
made  over  their  city  ;  the  war  faction,  which  was  clamorous 
to  engage  the  Romans ;  while  a  third  party  was  under 
Justus,  who  subsequently  wrote  a  history  of  the  war  in 
Galilee  which  is  now  lost.  He  was  in  all  things  the  oppo- 
nent of  Josephus,  and  his  first  object  was  to  raise  Tiberias, 
in  opposition  to  Sepphoris,  to  become  the  capital  of 
Galilee. 

The  leading  men  of  Tiberias,  summoned  by  Josephus, 
opposed  him  in  the  matter  of  Herod's  palace,  but  a  large 


JOSEPHUS.  323 

part  of  the  population  were  eager  for  its  destruction,  stimu- 
lated at  once  by  fanaticism  and  the  hope  of  plunder. 
They  razed  the  obnoxious  building  to  the  ground,  looted 
its  costly  furniture,  then  rose  upon  the  Syrians  who  were 
residents  in  the  city,  and  massacred  all  who  fell  into  their 
hands. 

Josephus  was  very  angry  at  the  plunder  of  the  palace. 
He  collected  as  far  as  possible  all  the  valuables  it  had  con- 
tained, —  candlesticks  of  Corinthian  brass,  royal  tables, 
uncoined  silver,  etc.,  —  and  consigned  them  to  the  citizen 
who  stood  highest  in  the  favor  and  confidence  of  Agrippa. 

The  history  of  the  administration  of  Josephus  in  Galilee 
may  be  found  at  length  both  in  his  "  Wars  of  the  Jews  " 
and  in  his  autobiography.  It  may  be  sufficient  here  to  say 
that  in  everything  he  was  opposed  by  Justus  of  Tiberias, 
and  John  of  Gischala. 

At  Tarichaea,  where  he  forced  a  band  of  robbers  to  re- 
store spoils  that  they  had  taken  from  a  servant  of  King 
Agrippa,  he  was  set  upon  by  their  sympathizers,  and  de- 
serted by  his  friends.  He  saved  himself  by  his  address 
and  presence  of  mind.  But  the  two  accounts  we  have  of 
these  events  (both  of  them  written  by  Josephus  himself) 
are  confused  and  inconsistent  with  each  other. 

Meantime,  Herod's  palace  and  its  statues  having  been 
destroyed,  Josephus  could  venture  into  Tiberias.  There, 
as  he  was  about  to  address  the  people  from  a  rostrum,  a 
crowd,  incited  by  a  band  of  John  of  Gischala's  men,  sur- 
rounded the  place,  dragged  him  down  from  the  rostrum, 
and  were  about  to  murder  him,  when  he  eluded  their  grasp, 
gained  the  lake,  sprang  into  a  boat,  pushed  out  from  the 
shore,  and  was  in  safety. 

By  this  time  the  Romans,  who,  since  the  disgrace  of 
Cestius,  had  allowed  matters  to  drift  into  anarchy  in  Pales- 
tine, took  part  once  more  in  its  conflicts.  A  Roman 
army  advanced  against  Josephus,  while  at  the  same  time 
his  fellow-countrymen  in  Jerusalem  were  plotting  his  ruin. 
Their  plots  failed  entirely.  On  every  point  Josephus  tri- 
umphed, and  despatched  a  delegation  of  one  hundred 


324  JUDEA. 

influential  citizens  of  Galilee,  attended  by  a  guard  of  five 
hundred  of  his  soldiers,  to  plead  his  cause  at  Jerusalem. 

In  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  we  repeatedly  read  high 
praise  of  "  wily  Ulysses,"  —  "  Ulysses  of  many  devices." 
To  no  military  man  in  authentic  history,  could  these  terms 
have  been  more  fitly  applied  than  to  Josephus.  His  suc- 
cessful "  devices  "  seem  to  have  been  innumerable.  He 
relied  on  them  to  obviate  the  necessity  for  a  great  effusion 
of  blood.  He  relates  them  with  the  utmost  self-compla- 
cency. But  while  doing  his  duty  in  his  province,  strength- 
ening and  disciplining  his  army,  endeavoring  to  introduce 
order  into  the  administration  of  justice,  and  putting  down 
the  robber  bands  that  infested  the  country  —  making  Gali- 
lee, in  short,  ready  for  whatever  fate  might  be  in  store  for 
her —  Josephus  in  his  heart  believed  in  the  impossibility  of 
effectually  resisting  the  mighty  power  of  Rome  ;  especially 
when  the  little  nation  engaged  in  that  resistance  had  drawn 
down  upon  itself  the  full  weight  of  Roman  vengeance  by 
disgrace  and  defeat  inflicted  on  the  imperial  legions. 

When  Vespasian  marshalled  his  forces  at  Antioch,  Jose- 
phus, in  Galilee,  made  ready  to  oppose  him  ;  but  it  was 
with  the  conviction  that  he  was  upholding  a  lost  cause. 

This  was  in  the  year  A.  D.  67,  though  it  is  difficult  to 
make  out  dates  in  the  accounts  we  have  of  the  campaign  of 
Vespasian  in  Galilee. 

In  Jerusalem  during  this  time,  arms  were  being  manufac- 
tured with  the  utmost  diligence,  Ananus  the  high-priest  tak- 
ing the  lead  in  warlike  preparations.  The  walls  of  the  city 
were  strengthened,  military  engines  were  made,  those  cap- 
tured from  Cestius  were  put  in  good  repair,  and  stores  of 
provisions  were  laid  up  in  the  city. 

Simon,  the  son  of  Gioras,  a  robber  rather  than  a  patriot, 
had  begun  to  assume  authority,  but  had  been  forced  to 
confine  his  ravages  to  Idumea,  where  he  strengthened  him- 
self in  the  fortress  of  Masada. 

Sepphoris  was  lost  by  the  Jews  early  in  the  Galilean 
campaign.  Vespasian's  army  was  composed  of  the  three 
most  distinguished  legions,  the  fifth,  tenth,  and  fifteenth. 


JOSEPH  US.  325 

He  had,  besides,  Arabian  archers  and  a  large  body  of  Ara- 
bian light  horse.  His  army,  exclusive  of  the  servants  who 
were  trained  to  serve  as  soldiers,  was  about  60,000.  The 
strongest  place  in  Galilee  was  Jotopata,  a  well  fortified  little 
city  in  the  hills.  For  many  centuries  its  site  could  not  be 
identified,  but  it  is  now  believed  to  have  occupied  the  same 
ground  as  an  unimportant  village  called  Judifat.  But  when 
Vespasian  invaded  Galilee  it  made  a  most  astonishing  re- 
sistance. Josephus  threw  himself  into  it  with  the  bravest 
of  the  Galilean  warriors.  Jotopata  was  in  a  mountain 
district,  and  was  approachable  only  by  almost  impassable 
roads,  but  the  soldiers  of  Vespasian  cut  a  military  road 
right  through  an  opposite  mountain,  and  in  five  days  Joto- 
pata lay  open  to  their  attacks. 

I  have  not  space  to  give  here  the  particulars  of  this 
memorable  siege ;  they  may  be  read  at  full  length  in  the 
pages  of  Josephus,  or  in  those  of  Dean  Milman's  "  History 
of  the  Jews."  "  On  one  side,"  says  the  later  writer,  "  fought 
desperation ;  on  the  other  the  haughty  shame  of  having 
once  been  defeated  by  such  a  foe." 

Vespasian  had  with  him  160  military  engines,  the  most 
formidable  of  which  was  his  enormous  battering-ram,  an 
immense  beam  headed  with  iron  fashioned  like  the  head 
of  a  ram.  This  beam  was  suspended  by  cables  from 
another  beam,  supported  by  great  posts.  It  was  drawn 
backward  by  a  large  force  of  men,  and  then  driven  forward 
by  so  tremendous  a  recoil  that,  as  Dean  Milman  says,  "  the 
Romans  were  accustomed  to  see  the  bulwarks  of  the  strong- 
est cities  crumble  as  it  were  to  dust  the  instant  they  could 
bring  that  formidable  machine  into  action." 

As  it  advanced  near  the  walls  of  Jotopata  the  besieged 
made  frantic  attempts  to  burn  it ;  nor  was  Josephus  wanting 
in  an  ingenious  device  to  mitigate  its  power.  One  man 
with  an  immense  stone  struck  off  its  iron  head ;  then  he 
leaped  down  from  the  wall,  and  managed  to  secure  the  • 
trophy,  but  fell  dead  from  his  wounds  as  he  held  it  aloft  in 
triumph,  in  full  sight  of  all  the  Jews  and  of  the  Roman 
army. 


326  JUDEA. 

Boiling  oil  was  poured  down  on  the  Roman  soldiers, 
which  drove  them  frantic  as  it  trickled  beneath  their  breast- 
plates, which  they  could  not  tear  off  before  it  had  well 
scalded  them.  Those  so  assailed  leaped  and  writhed  in 
anguish ;  many  threw  themselves  from  the  bridges.  They 
became  furious  at  the  obstinate  resistance  of  this  little 
stronghold  in  the  mountains.  Vespasian  at  last  gave 
orders  that  on  the  high  embankment  round  the  city  fifty 
towers  should  be  built,  strongly  girded  with  iron.  From 
these  his  javelin  men,  his  slingers,  and  his  archers  dis- 
charged their  missiles  at  every  Jew  who  showed  himself 
upon  the  walls. 

At  last  discouragement  fell  on  the  defenders  of  Jotopata. 
They  learned  that  a  stronghold,  or  city,  at  no  great  dis- 
tance, called  Japha,  had  been  reduced  by  a  detachment 
of  Vespasian's  army.  The  women  of  the  place  were 
reserved  for  slaves,  15,000  of  the  men  were  killed,  and 
about  2000  were  sent  to  Nero  to  be  employed  on  the  great 
work  of  cutting  a  canal  through  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth, 
which  was  one  of  his  magnificent  plans. 

For  once  the  Samaritans,  driven  to  desperation  by 
Roman  oppression,  made  common  cause  with  the  Jews, 
but  suffered  a  bloody  defeat. 

Jotopata  had  held  out  forty-seven  days  against  the  best 
general  and  the  most  distinguished  legions  in  the  Roman 
army,  but  on  July  i,  A.  D.  67,  it  was  taken  by  surprise  in 
the  early  dawn  of  a  misty  morning.  The  Romans  lost  but 
one  man.  There  was  little  or  no  resistance ;  the  inhabit- 
ants gave  themselves  up  quietly  to  be  butchered.  Many 
died  by  their  own  hands. 

The  Romans  vindictively  remembered  what  they  had 
suffered  from  the  fierce  sallies  of  the  Jews  during  the  siege, 
and  were  little  disposed  to  show  them  mercy.  Mercy  and 
compassion,  indeed,  were  not  qualities  characteristic  of 
Vespasian,  though  they  lay  latent  in  the  breast  of  his  son 
Titus.1 

1  A  very  full  account  of  the  siege  of  Jotopata  may  found  in 
Josephus,  and  in  Dean  Milman's  "  History  of  the  Jews,"  as  well  as 


JOSEPH  US.  327 

Among  the  dead,  and  in  the  caverns  underground,  the 
Romans  made  search  for  Josephus.  Vespasian  had  given 
especial  orders  to  have  him  taken,  but  at  last  it  began  to 
be  believed  that,  foreseeing  the  capture  of  the  city,  he  had 
in  some  mysterious  way  effected  his  escape.  During  the 
general  confusion  he  had  indeed  jumped  into  a  dry  well, 
and  thence  found  his  way  into  a  long  cavern  which  led  to  a 
place  where  forty  men  of  rank  and  influence  in  Jotopata 
had  taken  refuge,  having  supplied  themselves  with  a  small 
store  of  provisions. 

On  the  third  day  of  this  confinement  Josephus  was 
startled  by  hearing  his  name  called  from  the  entrance  to 
the  cavern.  His  hiding-place  had  been  disclosed  by  a 
woman ;  and  Vespasian  had  despatched  two  of  his  staff  to 
offer  him  his  life  if  he  would  surrender.  At  last  by  the 
persuasions  of  one  of  them,  a  tribune  whom  he  had  for- 
merly known,  and  who  guaranteed  to  him  the  good  faith  of 
the  general,  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  yield  himself  a 
prisoner.  Josephus  had  had  some  reputation  among  his 
people  as  an  interpreter  of  dreams.  During  the  siege  he 
had  one  night  dreamed  that  in  forty-seven  days  Joto- 
pata would  fall,  that  he  himself  would  escape  death,  and 
that  Vespasian,  the  Roman  general,  would  be  elevated  to 
the  throne  of  the  Caesars.  This  idea  was  indeed  already  in 
men's  minds.  It  was  evident  to  all  that  the  Roman  Em- 
pire could  only  be  maintained  in  its  integrity  by  having  at 
its  head  an  experienced  military  commander;  and  that 
ruler,  according  to  an  idea  prevalent  b.oth  in  the  East  and 
in  the  West,  was  in  some  way  to  be  connected  with  Jeru- 
salem or  Judea. 

But  the  forty  men  in  the  cavern  with  Josephus  would  not 
suffer  him  to  surrender.  They  implored  him  not  to  die  a 
traitor  to  his  country,  but  to  meet  death  as  their  chieftain. 
Seeing  that  their  place  of  refuge  was  discovered,  and  that 

minute  details  of  the  subsequent  siege  and  capture  of  Jerusalem. 
These  details  would  be  very  interesting,  but  that  our  souls  sicken 
when  we  read  of  horrors  upon  horrors,  for  which  reason  I  have,  as 
far  as  possible,  spared  my  readers. 


328  JUDEA. 

the  Roman  soldiers  were  about  to  light  a  fire  at  the  en- 
trance, and  to  suffocate  them  in  the  smoke,  they  resolved 
to  die  by  each  other's  hands. 

Josephus  tells  us  that  he  made  them  on  this  occasion  a 
long  and  eloquent  oration  against  suicide,  which  was,  how- 
ever, lost  upon  his  hearers,  who  at  first  ran  at  him  with 
their  drawn  swords,  but  at  length  yielded  to  a  proposition 
he  made  them  to  draw  lots.  He  who  had  the  first  lot  was 
to  slay  him  who  held  the  second,  to  be  himself  killed  by 
the  third.  Finally  two  only  were  left  alive,  Josephus  and 
the  man  who  was  to  kill  him.  This  time  the  eloquence 
of  Josephus  was  not  in  vain.  The  other  man  consented  to 
accept  the  Roman  terms,  and  they  came  forth  together. 
Josephus  was  immediately  led  into  the  presence  of  Vespa- 
sian, the  Roman  soldiers  flocking  round  him  with  threats  of 
vengeance,  while  their  officers,  struck  by  his  bold  bearing, 
and  admiring  the  resources  and  energy  which  he  had 
shown  during  the  siege,  were  moved  in  his  favor.  Espe- 
cially was  this  the  case  with  Titus,  a  young  man  almost  of 
his  own  age,  already  under  the  influence  of  Berenice,  whom 
he  had  met  at  Antioch,  and  disposed  to  favor  and  protect, 
for  her  sake,  a  man  of  her  own  Asmonean  race,  her  most 
distinguished  countryman. 

Vespasian  ordered  his  prisoner  to  be  securely  guarded, 
and  proposed  to  send  him  to  Nero,  now  in  Rome.  But 
Josephus  at  once  requested  a  private  audience.  All  pres- 
ent retired  except  Titus  and  two  officers. 

Then  Josephus  rpse  to  the  occasion,  and  assumed  the 
air  and  language  of  a  prophet.  He  assured  his  hearers 
that  nothing  had  prevented  him  from  dying  the  death  of  a 
noble  Jew,  but  his  conviction  that  he  had  a  message  to 
deliver  from  the  Lord  Almighty.  Then  he  announced  to 
Vespasian  and  his  son  that  by  God's  will  they  should 
speedily  assume  imperial  dignity.  He  implored  them, 
therefore,  not  to  send  him  to  Nero,  but  to  keep  him  in 
chains  as  their  own  prisoner  until  his  prophecy  should  be 
verified  by  the  event. 

This  and  the  knowledge   that  he  had  during  the  siege 


JOSEPH  US.  329 

prophesied  the  capture  of  the  city  in  forty-seven  days,  led 
to  his  kind  treatment.  And  indeed  how  great  would  have 
been  the  world's  loss,  had  Josephus  perished  ! 

Vespasian's  plan  of  campaign  was  to  drive  all  fighting 
men  whom  he  failed  to  subdue,  into  Jerusalem,  and  then, 
when  Palestine  lay  helpless  at  his  mercy,  to  await  the  right 
moment  for  completing  the  overthrow  of  the  entire  Jewish 
nation  by  a  decisive  blow  directed  against  their  capital  and 
their  Temple. 

During  the  remaining  two  months  of  the  year  A.  D.  67,  he 
continued  to  capture  city  after  city  along  the  sea-coast,  and 
in  Galilee.  Tiberias  and  Tarichsea  on  the  lake,  were  at 
first  spared,  because  they  owed  allegiance  to  Agrippa.  But 
at  last,  after  a  formidable  body  of  insurgents  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  latter  city,  a  most  bloody  conflict  took  place 
upon  that  peaceful  lake  on  the  waters  of  which  Jesus  thirty 
years  before  had  walked,  by  whose  shores  He  had  preached, 
and  told  His  disciples  parables  illustrated  from  the  natural 
beauty  and  the  rural  life  around  them.  Now  the  blue 
waters  of  the  lake  were  tinged  red  with  Jewish  blood. 

Vespasian  broke  faith  with  the  people  of  Tarichaea. 
They  surrendered  under  promise  of  amnesty,  but  he 
marched  all  John  of  Gischala's  insurgents  out  of  the  city, 
and  murdered  them  on  the  road. 

Gamala  was  built  on  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  opposite  to 
Tarichaea.  Its  situation  was  one  of  almost  impregnable 
strength,  and  Josephus  had  supplemented  its  natural  ad- 
vantages. In  vain,  when  Vespasian  had  encompassed  it 
with  his  legions,  Agrippa  appeared  before  its  walls,  and  of- 
fered terms  to  its  defenders.  He  was  struck  by  a  stone  on 
his  right  elbow,  and  this  exasperated  the  Roman  soldiers, 
with  whom  he  was  popular.  The  fighting  was  fierce,  and 
the  Romans  had  not  always  the  advantage.  Some  leading 
Roman  generals  were  slain,  and  the  Roman  legions  grew 
despondent.  But  the  event  could  not  long  be  doubtful. 
In  the  end  the  Jewish  leaders  met  their  death,  the  city  was 
taken,  the  inhabitants,  men,  women,  and  children,  were 
put  to  the  sword,  or  died  by  precipitating  themselves  from 


330  JUDEA. 

a  high  rock  on  which  they  had  sought  refuge.  The 
Romans  scaled  the  rock,  4000  of  the  refugees  were  killed 
by  the  sword;  and  5000  bodies  were  found  beneath  the 
precipice.  On  September  23,  A.  D.  67,  Gamala  fell. 

But  Gischala  still  held  out.  There  John  of  Gischala 
commanded  a  strong  faction.  Titus  was  sent  against  the 
city,  and  perceiving  that  he  could  easily  take  it  by  assault, 
preferred  to  avoid  bloodshed  by  offering  terms  of  capitula- 
tion. John  of  Gischala,  with  unexpected  readiness,  an- 
swered from  the  wall  that  the  city  accepted  his  terms,  and 
the  next  day  would  surrender,  but  as  it  was  the  Sabbath, 
nothing  could  be  formally  concluded  without  infringing  the 
Jewish  law.  To  this  Titus  agreed,  and  withdrew  his  troops 
for  the  night. 

Then  John  of  Gischala  with  all  his  men  marched  out  of 
the  city  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  abandoning  their 
women  and  children  on  the  road,  while  the  men  pushed  on 
to  a  place  of  safety. 

When  Titus  appeared  the  next  day  before  Gischala  he 
was  received  by  the  inhabitants  as  a  deliverer.  He  sent 
horsemen  at  once  in  pursuit  of  John.  These  killed  a  great 
number  of  his  followers,  and  brought  back  3000  women 
and  children. 

John  of  Gischala  made  his  way  into  Jerusalem.  "  Better 
would  it  have  been,"  writes  Dean  Milman,  "  if  he  had 
perished  in  the  trenches  of  his  native  town,  or  been  cap- 
tured by  the  enemy."  Meantime  Vespasian  retired  into 
winter  quarters  at  Caesarea. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

NEARING   THE    END. 

A  S  we  read  accounts  of  what  took  place  in  Jerusalem 
•^*-  during  the  years  A.D.  68,  69,  and  70,  we  are  unavoid- 
ably reminded  of  events  in  Paris  during  the  Commune. 
If  we  know  the  history  of  the  Commune  in  our  own  times, 
we  may  be  said  to  know  that  of  the  factions  in  Jerusalem. 

Vespasian,  who  went  into  winter  quarters  at  the  close 
of  the  year  A.D.  67,  remained  to  all  appearances  strangely 
inactive.  After  the  campaign  in  Galilee  he  did  not  press 
forward  to  Jerusalem.  The  reason  was  probably  that  as 
great  events  were  impending  in  the  capital,  and  his  own 
elevation  to  the  imperial  throne  was  a  matter  of  political 
intrigue  among  his  friends,  he  was  unwilling  to  divide  his 
forces,  but  preferred  to  keep  his  legions  together,  and  "  to 
stand  by,"  as  sailors  say,  for  any  emergency. 

Renan  thus  speaks  of  the  state  of  feeling  at  this  time 
throughout  the  Roman  Empire  :  — 1 

"  The  camps  were  full  of  politics  ;  the  empire  was  for 
sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  In  Nero's  day  there  were 
occasions  when  might  be  seen  in  one  assembly  seven 
future  emperors,  and  the  father  of  an  eighth.2  Galba, 
an  honest  old  general,  who  refused  to  be  a  party  to  the 
military  revel,  soon  perished.  The  soldiers  had  for  a 
moment  the  idea  of  killing  all  the  senators,  to  simplify  the 
task  of  government." 

The  troops  in  Spain,  under  Galba,  revolted  in  April,  A.D. 
68 ;  the  legions  in  Gaul,  under  Vindex,  were  already  in 

1  Antichrist,  chapter  xviii.,  p.  371. 

2  Galba,  Otho,  Vitellius,  Vespasian,  Titus,  Domitian,  Nerva,  and 
the  father  of  Trajan. 


332  JUDEA. 

revolt.  "  This  news,  which  reached  Nero  while  at  dinner, 
struck  him  like  a  thunderbolt.  His  first  acts  were  those  of 
a  spoiled  child  in  a  passion.  In  the  absurd  preparations 
which  he  began  to  make  for  flight,  his  first  care  was  for  his 
musical  instruments  and  for  his  stage  equipments.  He  made 
his  women  dress  like  Amazons,  in  skins,  carrying  axes,  with 
their  hair  cut  short.  ...  He  had  no  idea  which  was  not 
childish.  At  times  he  thought,  not  of  resistance,  but  of 
going  unarmed  to  weep  before  his  enemies,  fancying  that 
he  might  move  them  ;  and  already  he  was  composing  a 
song  of  victory  which  should  celebrate  peace  and  reconcili- 
ation. At  other  times  he  wished  to  massacre  the  whole 
Senate,  burn  Rome  a  second  time,  and  during  the  conflagra- 
tion turn  loose  upon  the  city  the  wild  beasts  of  the  amphi- 
theatre. .  .  .  From  time  to  time  he  thought  of  changing 
the  seat  of  empire,  and  retiring  to  Alexandria.  He  called 
to  mind  that  certain  prophecies  had  seemed  to  promise 
him  an  empire  in  the  East,  and  in  particular  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem."  1 

But  when  the  pretorians  in  Rome  revolted  and  pro- 
claimed Galba  emperor,  he  could  not  but  feel  that  all  was 
lost.  The  story  of  his  last  days  as  told  by  M.  Renan  in  his 
"  Antichrist  "  is  pathetic  in  the  extreme.  His  insanity  took 
the  form  of  childishness,  with  reminiscences  of  scraps  of 
learning  laid  up  in  his  memory,  in  earlier,  happier  days. 
He  thought  himself  acting  a  tragedy.  The  play  came  to 
an  end  with  his  death  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  after  a 
reign  of  thirteen  years  and  eight  months.  His  remains 
were  secretly,  but  sumptuously,  buried  by  the  care  of  Acte, 
the  woman  who  had  loved  him. 

Galba,  grave,  frugal,  and  austere,  was  proclaimed  empe- 
ror by  the  revolted  soldiery,  but  popular  admiration  of 
Nero  in  the  end  carried  the  day ;  the  elderly  soldier  was 
murdered,  and  Otho  was  made  emperor.  "  The  soldiers 
and  all  who  loved  Nero,"  says  M.  Renan,  "found  their 
idol  in  him.  The  worthless  Vitellius  had,  however,  been 
proclaimed  in  Germany  a  few  days  before  Otho,  and  he 

1  The  quotations  in  this  chapter  are  from  Kenan's  "  Antichrist." 


N EARING    THE  END.  333 

did  not  withdraw  his  claim.  A  horrible  civil  war,  such  as 
had  not  been  seen  since  that  between  Augustus  and  An- 
tony, seemed  inevitable.  The  world  reeked  with  blood. 
The  first  battle  between  the  rivals  which  left  the  empire  to 
Vitellius  alone,  cost  the  lives  of  80,000  men.  Disbanded 
legionaries  pillaged  the  country,  and  fought  among  them- 
selves. Prophecies  and  prognostics  seemed  everywhere  to 
abound.  Certain  words  of  Jesus  repeated  in  secret  among 
Christians  kept  them  constantly  in  expectation.  Above  all, 
the  fate  of  Jerusalem  seemed  an  object  with  them  of  ex- 
treme anxiety  and  concern." 

Among  men  of  sense  and  character  there  was  a  strong 
feeling  growing  up  in  favor  of  Vespasian,  and  no  doubt  he 
had  himself  been  much  impressed,  not  only  by  the  prophecy 
of  Josephus,  but  by  its  accordance  with  other  prophecies, 
put  forth  in  the  East  by  heathen  oracles  and  by  the  Magi. 
The  Jews  by  the  iteration  of  their  prophecies  had  produced 
a  popular  opinion  that  the  master  of  the  world  must  come 
from  Judea,  and  that  the  East  would  gain  the  day.  "  Ves- 
pasian and  Titus  in  the  midst  of  Jews  listened  readily  to 
such  words,  and  took  pleasure  in  them.  While  displaying 
their  military  talent  against  the  fanatics  in  Jerusalem  they 
had  a  strong  attraction  towards  Judaism,  studied  it,  and 
paid  deference  to  the  Jewish  books.  Josephus  had  found 
his  way  into  their  companionship,  especially  that  of  Titus, 
through  his  soft,  easy,  and  insinuating  temper.  He  boasted 
before  them  of  his  Law,  told  them  the  old  Scripture  stories, 
which  he  often  set  forth  in  Greek  style,  and  spoke  mysteri- 
ously of  the  Prophecies." 

In  the  spring  of  A.D.  69  Vespasian  roused  himself  from 
the  military  inactivity  in  which  he  was  held  by  uncertainty 
as  to  his  prospects  of  political  advancement,  and  marched 
his  army  to  within  sight  of  Jerusalem.  His  lieutenant, 
Cerealis,  had  ravaged  Idumea  and  burnt  Hebron.  All 
Judea  was  in  possession  of  the  Romans  with  the  exception 
of  its  capital  and  Herod's  three  strongholds,  Masada, 
Herodium,  and  Machserus.  But  even  when  Vespasian 
found  himself  before  Jerusalem  he  hesitated  to  make  an 


334  JUDEA. 

attack  upon  it.  Of  no  great  military  importance  in  the 
days  of  its  kings,  or  of  its  Persian  and  Egyptian  rulers,  it 
was  now  the  strongest  fortified  city  in  the  East.  To  reduce 
it  might  take  time  and  strength,  and  delay  would  possibly 
be  fatal  to  the  political  hopes  of  Titus,  who,  in  the  matter 
of  imperial  aspiration,  governed  Vespasian.  The  legions 
were  therefore  withdrawn,  and  for  the  following  twelve 
months  Jerusalem  was  left  in  the  hands  of  the  factions 
which  had  already  for  two  long  years  been  fighting  each 
other. 

On  July  i,  A.D.  69,  Vespasian  was  proclaimed  emperor 
in  Alexandria;  two  days  later  his  own  army  saluted  him  as 
Imperator,  and  by  the  middle  of  the  month  all  the  East 
was  obedient  to  him.  At  a  Congress  held  at  Berytus 
(Beyrout  of  the  present  day)  it  was  decided  that  Mucian, 
the  imperial  legate  in  Syria,  should  lead  troops  into  Italy ; 
that  Titus  should  prosecute  the  war  against  the  Jews ;  and 
that  Vespasian  should  watch  the  progress  of  events  in 
Alexandria. 

So  disorganized  had  the  empire  become  by  the  extrav- 
agances of  Nero,  and  his  imitators,  Otho  and  Vitellius, 
that  Rome  had  grown  willing  to  welcome  the  accession  of 
"  a  good  honest  man,  of  undistinguished  rank,  who  had 
laboriously  made  his  way  by  his  own  merit  —  in  spite 
of  his  little  awkwardnesses,  his  vulgar  looks,  and  his  want 
of  manners." 

When  John  of  Gischala,  after  his  hasty  flight  from  Gal- 
ilee, made  his  way,  at  the  head  of  his  band  of  Zealots,  into 
Jerusalem,  the  multitude  poured  out  of  the  city  gates  to 
meet  him,  as  much  from  eagerness  to  hear  his  news  as  to 
welcome  his  coming. 

Weary  and  travel-stained  as  his  men  were,  they  assumed 
a  haughty  demeanor,  declaring  that  they  had  not  fled  from 
Galilee,  but  had  retreated  to  Jerusalem,  being  unwilling  to 
risk  the  lives  of  their  nation's  bravest  men  in  petty  con- 
flicts for  the  defence  of  worthless  villages.  This  view  of 
the  matter  was  popularly  accepted.  The  party  of  the 
Zealots  was  already  powerful  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  men 


NEARING   THE  END,  335 

of  Galilee  were  an  important  addition  to  their  strength. 
John  argued  that  the  Roman  army,  discouraged  and  en- 
feebled by  its  efforts  to  subdue  small  Galilean  cities,  would 
easily  be  repelled  with  disgrace  from  before  Jerusalem. 
The  young  men  were  carried  away  by  the  eloquence  and 
enthusiasm  of  the  Zealot  leader;  the  old  men  sat  silent 
and  disheartened. 

Jerusalem  was  at  that  time  divided  into  two  parties, 
the  conservatives  and  the  revolutionists  —  or,  as  Josephus 
calls  the  latter,  the  innovators.  In  the  country  sur- 
rounding the  city  ranged  robber  bands  of  Sicarii  and 
Assassins,  plundering  and  slaying,  under  pretext  that  they 
were  engaged  in  punishing  renegades  and  traitors.  Alas  ! 
Judas  Maccabseus  had  in  this  respect  set  them  a  bad  ex- 
ample ;  and  this  one  error  in  his  heroic  career  was  bear- 
ing evil  fruit  after  he  had  been  dead  two  hundred  and 
thirty  years. 

Before  long  the  Assassins  gathered  together  in  Jerusalem  ; 
robberies,  burglaries,  murders,  and  assaults  took  place  there 
day  by  day.  Men  of  the  highest  rank,  and,  above  all, 
members  of  the  Herodian  family,  were  seized  and  mur- 
dered. The  prisons  were  crowded  with  victims,  who,  it 
was  hoped,  by  fear  of  cruelty  and  dread  of  death  might  be 
induced  to  countenance  their  persecutors.  But,  when  not 
one  would  save  himself  by  baseness,  the  party  that  had 
triumphed  (like  the  French  fanatics  in  September,  1792) 
sent  ruffians  into  the  prisons  to  massacre  their  captives. 

The  dominant  party  next  interfered  with  the  legal  dis- 
tinctions between  man  and  man  in  the  offices  of  the 
priesthood.  They  selected,  in  deference  to  popular  opin- 
ion, ignoble  men  to  seats  in  the  Sanhedrim,  and  at  length 
they  presumed  to  depose  Matthias,  the  son  of  Theophilus, 
who  had  been  high-priest  for  two  years,  and  appointed  by 
lot  one  Phannias,  a  stone-cutter,  an  ignorant  peasant, 
whose  appearance  when  they  led  him  forth,  awkward  and 
bewildered  in  his  official  robes,  moved  the  laughter  of  the 
multitude. 

But  this  last  act  of  profanity  and  folly  roused  a  feeling 


336  JUDEA. 

in  Jerusalem  which  strengthened  the  conservatives,  whose 
chief  men  were  Jesus  of  Gamara,  and  Ananus,  a  descendant 
of  the  Annas  who  took  part  in  the  condemnation  of  our 
Saviour.  These  men  called  an  assembly  in  one  of  the 
courts  of  the  Temple.  Ananus  addressed  it  in  an  eloquent 
oration,  but  the  Sicarii  broke  in  as  he  was  speaking,  and 
attacked  those  who  were  organizing  to  oppose  their  vio- 
lence. At  once  a  civil  conflict  broke  out  all  over  the  city. 
Both  parties  fought  fiercely.  The  Sicarii  gained  posses- 
sion of  the  Temple,  and  thither  their  wounded  were 
brought,  dripping  blood  over  the  sacred  pavement.  The 
Temple  itself  became  the  scene  of  conflict.  Into  the 
inner  court  —  where  stood  the  Altar  of  Sacrifice  —  the  in- 
surgents pressed,  and  closed  the  massive  gates  of  the 
Sanctuary.  Thither  religious  scruples  restrained  Ananus 
from  allowing  his  men  to  follow  them.  John  of  Gischala, 
now  nominally  joined  the  party  of  Ananus,  but  he  kept  up 
secret  relations  with  the  Assassins,  and  betrayed  to  them 
all  the  counsels  of  the  other  party.  Those  he  professed  to 
help,  however,  soon  began  to  doubt  him.  They  endeav- 
ored to  ensure  his  faithfulness  by  making  him  take  a 
solemn  oath  not  to-  betray  them,  after  which  he  was  still 
more  trusted  by  his  dupes,  until,  being  sent  by  Ananus  to 
parley  with  the  insurgents,  he  threw  off  the  mask,  and 
openly  declared  himself  to  be  on  their  side.  He  offered 
to  be  their  leader,  denounced  those  of  the  opposite  party, 
and  inflamed  his  hearers  to  madness  by  his  eloquent  words. 

By  his  advice  messengers  were  sent  to  the  Idumeans, 
a  fierce,  turbulent,  mixed  race,  with  Arab  blood  in  their 
veins,  begging  their  assistance  and  promising  them  abun- 
dant plunder  in  Jerusalem.  At  once  the  Idumeans  flew  to 
arms,  and  twenty  thousand  of  them  marched  to  Jerusalem. 

The  party  of  reason  found  themselves  between  two 
opposing  armies,  —  the  insurgents  within  and  the  Idumeans 
without  the  city,  who  proclaimed  that  they  were  acting 
against  false  Jews  who  were  plotting  to  deliver  up  Jerusalem 
to  the  Romans. 

But  while   the   Idumeans  waited  without  the  walls,  ex- 


N EARING    THE  END.  337 

pecting  that  the  allies  who  had  summoned  them  would 
open  the  city  gates,  a  terrible  thunder-storm,  which  seemed 
to  manifest  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty,  descended  on  the 
city.  The  Idumeans  locked  their  shields,  and  defended 
themselves  as  well  as  they  could  from  the  pitiless  pelting 
of  the  rain,  and  the  fury  of  the  elements.  Ananus,  who 
had  kept  careful  watch  for  many  days  and  nights  over  the 
gates  which  divided  the  insurgents  from  the  more  sacred 
portions  of  the  Temple,  had,  in  the  confusion  of  that  awful 
storm,  relaxed  his  vigilance.  The  Zealots  took  advan- 
tage of  his  negligence.  A  few  bold  men  sawed  through 
the  bars  that  held  the  gates.  The  noise  of  the  tempest 
drowned  that  which  they  made  by  sawing.  Then  they 
crept  forth,  and  stole  along  the  streets  to  one  of  the  gates 
of  the  city.  There,  too,  they  sawed  through  the  bars,  and 
let  in  the  Idumeans,  who,  fearing  a  surprise,  had  made 
ready  to  attack  them.  A  general  massacre  would  have  at 
once  taken  place,  but  that  the  few  daring  men  who  had 
come  forth  from  the  interior  of  the  Temple  besought  their 
allies  to  begin  by  setting  their  imprisoned  comrades  within 
the  Temple  at  liberty.  When  this  was  done  terror  and 
confusion  reigned  in  the  city.  The  storm  still  raged ; 
women  shrieked  in  the  streets,  the  Zealots  and  the  Idu- 
means shouted  in  triumph,  the  rain  fell  furiously,  the  wind 
howled,  lightning  flashed,  and  thunder  pealed.  Such 
storms  are  unusual  in  the  East,  and  always  inspire  terror. 

The  fight  went  on  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  the 
Temple.  When  all  was  over,  8500  dead  bodies  lay  on  the 
blood-stained  pavement.  Then  the  Idumeans  plundered 
the  city.  They  seized  Ananus  and  Jesus  of  Gamara,  and  a 
number  of  the  prominent  citizens,  put  them  to  death,  and 
stripping  the  bodies  flung  them  over  the  wall,  to  be  the 
prey  of  dogs  and  vultures,  —  the  last  indignity  in  ancient 
warfare. 

Like  a  band  of  wild  wolves  the  Zealots,  Sicarii,  and 
Idumeans  continued  to  rage  through  the  unhappy  city. 
Old  men  and  men  of  rank  or  wealth  were  seized,  tortured, 
and  then  put  to  death.  It  was  indeed  a  Reign  of  Terror. 


338  JUDEA. 

No  man  —  no  woman  —  dared  even  to  lament  the  dead. 
Josephus  says  that  in  those  days  perished  twelve  thousand 
of  the  noblest  in  Jerusalem. 

At  last,  even  as  Danton,  shocked  by  the  September  mas- 
sacres, prayed  the  Convention  to  authorize  a  Revolutionary 
tribunal  and  give  to  the  accused  some  form  of  trial,  the 
Idumeans  insisted  that  their  allies  the  Zealots  should  es- 
tablish a  Sanhedrim.  Before  it,  was  first  brought  Zacharias, 
the  son  of  Baruch,  a  man  upright,  patriotic,  and  religious. 
He  defended  himself  with  eloquence  and  spirit,  and  was 
unanimously  acquitted.  This  did  not  satisfy  the  Zealots 
and  Sicarii.  Two  of  them  rushed  forward  and  struck  him 
dead. 

After  this,  even  the  Idumeans  grew  weary  of  the  work 
of  bloodshed,  and  were  disgusted  with  their  accomplices. 
They  declared  that  they  had  come  into  Jerusalem  to  sup- 
press the  treason  of  the  leading  men,  and  to  prevent  their 
delivering  the  city  to  the  Romans,  but  that  they  could  find 
no  treason,  and  no  Romans  were  at  hand. 

They  therefore  returned  home,  leaving  the  Zealots  to 
work  their  own  will,  undeterred  even  by  their  accomplices' 
disapproval.  Among  those  whom  they  at  once  put  to 
death,  was  the  brave  Niger  of  Perea,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  when  Cestius  appeared  before  Jerusalem.  "  He 
was  dragged  through  the  streets,  showing  in  vain  the  scars 
he  had  received  for  his  ungrateful  country.  He  died  with 
fearful  imprecations,  summoning  the  Romans  to  avenge 
his  death,  and  denouncing  famine,  pestilence,  and  civil 
massacre,  as  well  as  war,  against  this  accursed  city."  l 

While  these  horrors  were  in  progress,  Vespasian  was 
urged  by  many  to  march  forward  to  Jerusalem,  and  bring 
them  to  an  end  ;  but,  like  Bismarck  when  similarly  urged  to 
make  a  furious  assault  on  Paris  during  the  Franco-Prussian 
war,  he  replied  that  the  rage  of  the  factions  would  destroy 
the  city  without  sacrificing  the  lives  of  some  thousands  of 
his  soldiers.  He  would  allow  them  time  to  tear  each  other 
to  pieces  like  wild  beasts  in  a  closed  den. 

1  Dean  Milman's  "  History  of  the  Jews." 


NEARING    THE  END.  339 

All  this  time  John  of  Gischalawas  exercising  the  authority 
of  a  dictator.  Some  he  cajoled,  some  he  held  in  fear  by  a 
sort  of  irresistible  imperiousness.  A  party  of  his  followers 
formed  his  body-guard,  and  treated  him  as  if  he  were  their 
king ;  while  others  in  their  intercourse  with  him  affected 
fraternity  and  equality. 

The  Sicarii  in  the  neighboring  country,  strong  in  their 
possession  of  Herod's  fortress  of  Masada,  grew  bolder  than 
ever.  It  was  the  spring  of  A.  D.  69,  and  Vespasian,  yielding 
to  the  entreaties  of  the  men  around  him,  especially  to  those 
of  the  unhappy  refugees  from  Jerusalem,  commenced  a 
campaign  in  Palestine.  He  was  unwilling,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  risk  the  strength  of  his  army  in  the  siege  of  so  strong 
and  stubborn  a  place  as  Jerusalem,  while  his  political  future 
was  in  doubt.  He  obtained  a  bloody  success,  however,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  at  the  spot  where  the  children  of 
Israel  had  passed  over  dryshod  under  the  leadership  of 
Joshua,  and  at  length  his  troops  appeared  before  beautiful 
Jericho  —  the  city  of  palm-trees.  Of  Jericho  in  the  days 
of  our  Saviour  Dr.  Stapfer  says  :  — 

"  It  was  not  further  away  from  Jerusalem  than  Versailles 
is  from  Paris.  It  was  and  long  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
most  charming  spots  in  Syria.  Josephus  says  of  it,  as  of  Gali- 
lee, '  It  is  a  divine  country.'  No  where  else  did  palm-trees 
grow  in  such  beauty  and  luxuriance.  They  formed  a  great 
wood  surrounding  the  city  on  all  sides,  not  to  speak  of  the 
gardens  and  cultivated  fields,  the  beauty  and  fruitfulness 
of  which  were  the  admiration  of  antiquity.  As  it  stood  at 
the  head  of  a  route,  it  was  an  important  seat  of  customs. 
Thus  the  episode  of  Zaccheus  belongs  to  it  naturally.  The 
Jordan  flowed  by,  shut  in  between  bare  rocks.  The  whole 
of  its  valley,  as  well  as  the  plain  of  Jericho  had  the  climate 
of  the  tropics,  and  the  city,  situated  below  the  level  of  the 
Mediterranean,  enjoyed  perpetual  spring.  The  cold  that 
prevails  on  the  surrounding  highlands  was  there  unknown."9 

Wherever  Vespasian  went   his  course  was   marked   by 

2  "  Palestine  in  the  time  of  Christ,"  by  Edward  Stapfer,  D.D. 


340  JUDEA. 

extreme  severity.  He  showed  no  mercy  to  the  Jews,  and 
Titus  was  not  by  his  side  to  plead  for  them. 

Every  moment  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  expected  to 
see  from  their  walls  the  advance  of  the  Roman  eagles,  but 
still  they  came  not.  The  day  of  vengeance  was  delayed. 
Vespasian  withdrew  his  troops  to  Csesarea,  and  waited  to 
see  what  the  next  turn  in  the  wheel  of  fortune  might  have 
in  store  for  him.  Meantime  a  worse  enemy  than  the 
Romans  was  invited  by  the  Jews  themselves  into  their 
city. 

This  enemy  was  Simon,  the  son  of  Gioras,  and  his  band 
of  outlaws.  He  was  a  man  fierce  and  cruel,  a  born  leader 
of  brigands,  without  the  eloquence  or  skill  in  leadership  of 
John  of  Gischala,  of  whom  he  became  the  rival.  He  had 
distinguished  himself  three  years  before  when  the  Jews 
gained  their  memorable  advantage  over  Cestius  Gallus,  but 
in  the  confusion  that  followed  he  gathered  together  a  band 
of  outlaws,  wasted  Idumea,  and  threatened  Jerusalem. 

The  Zealots  had  by  a  surprise  captured  his  wife  and  held 
her  in  Jerusalem  as  a  hostage.  Simon  was  beside  himself 
with  rage.  He  wreaked  vengeance  on  every  inhabitant  of 
the  city  who  fell  into  his  hands.  He  threatened  the  most 
dire  vengeance  if  his  wife  were  not  returned  to  him.  The 
city  was  filled  with  alarm,  the  woman  was  restored,  and 
Simon,  with  his  army  of  outlaws,  went  away. 

In  the  spring  of  A.  D.  70  Simon  again  appeared  in  arms 
outside  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  The  hardy  Galilean  Zealots, 
followers  of  John  of  Gischala,  had  become  enervated  by 
success.  "  They  had  all  the  cruelty  of  men  with  the 
wantonness  of  abandoned  women."  There  were  many 
Idumeans  left  in  Jerusalem.  They  resented  the  behavior 
of  the  Zealots,  they  grew  restive  under  the  rule  of  John. 
They  drove  most  of  his  followers  into  a  palace  built  by  one 
of  the  princes  of  Adiabene,  they  entered  the  gates  with 
them,  fought  them,  and  plundered  the  palace,  which  con- 
tained the  ill-gotten  treasures  of  John.  The  Zealots  with 
their  leader  Eleazar,  desperate  and  fierce,  held  the  Temple 
and  determined  to  resist  the  Idumeans,  and  those  inhabi- 


VESPASIAN. 


HEARING    THE  END.  341 

tants  of  Jerusalem  who  were  now  stirred  up  to  oppose  their 
tyranny.  In  a  council  presided  over  by  chief-priests  it  was 
resolved  to  call  in  Simon  Bar-Gioras  and  his  band  of 
robbers.  The  high-priest  Matthias,  who  had  resumed  his 
authority,  was  sent  in  person  to  invite  Simon  within  the 
walls.  The  populace  welcomed  him  as  a  deliverer.  Simon 
at  once  besieged  John  and  his  Zealots  in  the  Temple ;  but 
there  was  another  faction  encamped  within  the  inner  court 
of  the  sacred  building,  more  genuine  fanatics  than  the 
robbers  who  called  themselves  Zealots  for  the  Faith,  and 
who  had  come  with  John  from  Galilee.  This  third  party 
was  led  by  Eleazar,  the  same  priest  who  had  commenced 
the  revolution  by  inducing  his  sacerdotal  brethren  to  refuse 
all  offerings  made  by  foreigners  and  pagans  in  the  Temple, 
even  the  customary  offerings  made  by  the  Roman  emperors. 
The  party  of  Simon  without  the  Temple,  and  the  two  parties 
of  John  and  Eleazar  within,  made  incessant  war  upon  each 
other.  Strange  to  say,  sacrifices  continued  to  be  offered, 
and  pious  pilgrims  came  from  distant  countries  to  attend 
the  feasts,  while  warfare  uninterruptedly  went  on.  Many 
worshippers  were  killed  by  bolts  and  missiles  shot  by  the 
contending  factions,  and  their  blood  was  mingled  with  their 
sacrifices,  as  was  said  of  certain  other  Galileans  in  the 
days  of  our  Lord.  There  was  plenty  of  food  stored  in 
the  Temple,  and  large  quantities  had  been  laid  up  to 
serve  in  time  of  need,  but  all  this  was  burned,  partly  by 
John  of  Gischala,  and  partly  by  Simon  Bar-Gioras,  each 
hoping  thus  to  starve  the  adherents  of  the  other.  Nothing 
could  extinguish  the  wild  hopes  of  success  entertained  by 
the  fanatics  ;  no  reason  could  assail  their  confidence.  M. 
Renan  concludes  the  chapter  in  "Antichrist"  which  pre- 
cedes his  account  of  the  siege  itself  with  these  emphatic 
words  :  — 

"  In  vain  did  the  madman  Joshua,  the  son  of  Hanan,  roam 
day  and  night  through  the  city,  calling  on  the  four  winds 
of  heaven  to  destroy  it.  Until  the  eve  of  their  extermina- 
tion the  fanatics  proclaimed  Jerusalem  to  be  the  capital  of 
the  earth,  —  the  centre  of  the  world.  And  what  is  strang- 


342  JUDEA. 

est  of  all,  they  were  not  wholly  wrong.  Those  madmen 
who  insisted  that  the  holy  city  was  eternal,  when  it  was 
already  in  flames,  were  far  nearer  the  truth  than  those  who 
saw  in  it  only  insurgents  and  assassins.  They  were  mis- 
taken as  to  the  military  situation  then,  but  not  as  to  the 
religious  result  in  the  future.  Those  disastrous  days  in  fact 
clearly  mark  the  time  when  Jerusalem  became  the  spiritual 
centre  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  When  revolutions  with  thunder- 
ings  and  earthquakes  are  before  our  eyes  let  us  rank  our- 
selves among  the  blessed  ones,  forever  singing,  "  Praise  the 
Lord  !  "  or  with  the  Four  Living  Creatures,  spirits  of  the 
Universe,  who,  after  each  act  of  the  celestial  tragedy, 
respond  AMEN  !  " 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   SIEGE   OF   JERUSALEM. 

"  A  ND  when  ye  shall  see  Jerusalem  compassed  with 
•*^  armies  then  know  that  the  desolation  thereof  is 
nigh.  .  .  . 

"  In  those  days  shall  be  affliction  such  as  was  not  from  the 
beginning  of  creation  which  God  created  unto  this  time, 
neither  shall  be." 

These  words  of  our  Lord,  spoken  as  He  gazed  with  His 
disciples  on  the  city  and  its  glittering  Temple,  after  He 
had  come  up  to  Jerusalem  for  His  last  Passover,  tell  in 
brief  the  story  of  this  chapter.  As  we  read  it,  detailed 
with  some  prolixity  in  the  pages  of  Josephus,  it  seems  as  if 
words  could  not  adequately  paint  the  desolation,  the  despair, 
the  anarchy,  the  tyranny,  the  butchery,  and  the  brutality, 
that,  during  the  three  months  that  the  siege  lasted,  went  on 
in  the  devoted  city.  In  secret  many  prayed  for  the  arrival 
of  the  Roman  legions,  but  no  one  dared  to  utter  such  a 
wish,  nor  even  to  be  suspected  of  forming  it,  even  as  under 
the  tyranny  of  the  National  Convention,  in  1793,  it  would 
have  been  unsafe  for  an  inhabitant  of  Paris  to  hope  for  the 
arrival  of  the  army  of  Brunswick  and  the  Smtgr/s. 

At  length,  early  in  the  spring  of  A.  D.  70,  Titus  set  out 
from  Alexandria  and  collected  his  troops  at  Caesarea.  He 
had  under  him  four  legions,1  the  fifth,  tenth,  twelfth,  and 

1  The  legion  consisted  originally  of  3000  soldiers,  but  it  seems  to 
have  risen  gradually  to  twice  that  number.  Each  legion  had  also 
attached  to  it  a  considerable  body  of  horsemen.  Each  was  divided 
into  ten  cohorts  or  regiments;  each  cohort  into  three  maniples  or 
bands  ;  each  maniple  into  three  companies  of  a  hundred  men  each  com- 
manded by  a  centurion.  —  KITTO'S  Cyclopedia  of  Biblical  Literature. 


344  JUDEA. 

fifteenth,  many  Syrian  auxiliaries,  a  multitude  of  Arab  horse- 
men, and  all  those  Jews  who,  having  escaped  the  vengeance 
of  their  countrymen,  had  sought  refuge  with  the  Romans. 
The  men  of  the  tenth  legion  were  burning  to  revenge  them- 
selves upon  the  Jews  for  the  disgrace  that  they  had  suffered 
four  years  before  when  under  Cestius  Gallus.  Vespasian, 
confident  in  the  commandership  of  his  son,  and  in  the 
courage  of  his  soldiers,  had  but  one  thing  to  urge  on  them, 
and  that  was  severity;  "mercy,"  he  said,  "was  always  con- 
sidered a  sign  of  weakness  by  those  haughty  Oriental  races, 
who  were  convinced  that  they  fought  for  God,  and  had 
God  upon  their  side." 

It  was  in  the  month  of  April,  a  few  days  before  the 
Passover,  that  a  party  of  six  hundred  horsemen,  headed 
by  Titus,  appeared  as  a  reconnoitring  party  before  Jeru- 
salem. The  city  was  crowded  with  pilgrims,  for  neither 
war  nor  faction  stayed  the  influx  of  those  who  came  up 
yearly  to  the  great  feasts.  Josephus  estimates  that  one 
million  one  hundred  thousand  Jews  were  in  the  city 
during  those  terrible  three  months.  Tacitus  places  their 
number  at  six  hundred  thousand. 

Aloft  on  the  highest  peak  of  the  triple  mountain,  first 
known  to  us  as  Mount  Moriah,  stood  the  Temple,  very 
strongly  fortified,  so  that  it  was  one  of  the  most  impregna- 
ble military  positions  in  the  world.  Its  glittering  white 
marble  walls  and  gilded  dome  made  it  a  conspicuous 
object  from  the  hills  around. 

A  second  mountain  peak  —  Mount  Zion,  or,  as  it  was 
called  in -later  times,  the  Upper  City  —  was  surrounded  by  a 
wall,  defended  by  the  three  towers  of  Herod  and  the  Castle 
of  Antonia.  Divided  from  this  by  a  deep  chasm  was  the 
lower  town,  enclosed  by  a  second  wall,  which  at  certain 
points  united  with  the  outer  wall  and  the  wall  of  the  Temple ; 
and  finally  there  was  a  third  wall  projected,  and  partly 
built  by  Herod  Agrippa ;  its  construction  had,  however, 
been  stopped  by  an  order  from  the  Proconsul  of  Syria.  It 
enclosed  a  populous  suburb  on  the  north  side  of  Jerusalem, 
called  Bezetha.  This  was  the  point  where  Titus  determined 


THE  SIEGE    OF  JERUSALEM.  345 

to  commence  his  attack,  and  his  base  of  operations  was  to 
be  the  Mount  of  Olives.  But  as  he  rode  quietly  along  the 
outside  of  the  massive  wall  of  Agrippa  attended  by  his 
followers,  laying  his  plans,  but  half  disposed  to  think  that 
the  great  body  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  worn  out  by 
the  furious  warfare  waged  by  the  three  fierce  factions,  would 
throw  open  one  of  their  gates  and  welcome  him  as  a  de- 
liverer, a  postern  which  he  had  passed  was  suddenly  flung 
open,  and  out  of  it  swarmed  a  furious,  excited  multitude, 
cutting  him  off  from  his  retinue.  Darts,  arrows,  and  jave- 
lins flew  thick  around  him ;  he  wheeled  his  horse,  and  with 
bravery  which  called  forth  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw 
him,  he  cleared  his  way  through  the  opposing  masses.  He 
seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life.  But  the  Jews  considered 
this  skirmish  a  great  triumph.  Caesar  —  as  they  called  the 
son  of  Vespasian  —  had  been  forced  to  fly  !  It  was,  in  their 
eyes,  the  pledge  and  promise  of  their  ultimate  victory.  Titus 
had  not  escaped  unharmed ;  he  was  severely  wounded. 

From  the  Far  East,  from  Antioch  and  Egypt,  Asia  Minor 
and  Cyprus,  thousands  of  Jews,  confiding  in  the  inaction  of 
Vespasian,  had  flocked  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  this  the 
last  Passover.  For  the  last  time  worshippers  approached 
the  Temple  gates  singing  the  usual  Psalms  of  Degrees ; 
for  the  last  time  they  were  welcomed  by  the  greeting, 
"  Blessed  be  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ! " 
and  answered  the  priests'  welcome  with  the  words,  "  We 
have  wished  you  good  luck  —  ye  who  are  of  the  House  of 
the  Lord  !  " 

Many  habitual  visitors  to  the  Temple,  who  had  been  shut 
out  from  the  great  feasts  for  three  years,  came  up  to  Jeru- 
salem on  this  occasion.  Alas  !  as  the  Rabbi  Raphall  says  : 
"  Who  among  all  that  crowd  had  a  presentiment  of  the  fate 
which  awaited  them?  Who  foretold  that  of  all  these  as- 
sembled thousands,  few,  perhaps  none,  should  return  to 
the  homes  that  they  had  left  ?  —  that  the  sword,  pestilence, 
or  famine  should  be  the  doom  of  most  of  them,  while  the 
few  survivors  —  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  beasts  in  the  arena, 
amid  the  laughter  and  scoffs  of  their  heartless  victors,  or 


346  JUDEA. 

perishing  beneath  the  lash  and  labor  of  their  Roman  task- 
masters —  would  envy  those  whom  early  death  had  freed 
from  misery?  Yet  such  was  the  destiny  of  these  pilgrims,  — 
strangers  to  the  crimes  of  Jerusalem,  but  involved  in  her 
ruin." 

Taught  caution,  Titus  next  surrounded  the  city  with  em- 
bankments, from  which  to  work  the  battering-rams  and 
other  siege  engines  carefully  prepared  under  the  direction 
of  Vespasian  during  the  months  that,  a  year  before,  he  had 
tarried  at  Caesarea. 

The  leaders  of  the  two  principal  factions  in  the  city,  see- 
ing their  danger,  agreed  to  suspend  their  rivalry,  and 
together  attack  the  common  enemy. 

Zealots  and  Idumeans,  uniting  their  forces,  poured  down 
upon  the  Romans,  who,  unprepared  for  an  attack,  were 
engaged  in  fortifying  themselves  at  the  base  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives.  The  onset  was  so  unlocked  for,  and  so  furious, 
that  the  tenth  legion,  which  was  raising  earth-works,  was 
driven  from  that  sacred  hill  which  we  associate  only  with 
the  last  days  of  our  Lord's  life,  with  His  prayers,  His  last 
preaching,  and  His  ascension.  This  spot  would  have  been 
the  scene  of  a  signal  Roman  defeat,  and  no  doubt  the 
quiet  streets  of  Bethany  and  the  shades  of  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane  would  have  run  with  Roman  blood,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  desperate  courage  of  Titus,  whose  followers, 
seeing  him  surrounded  by  the  enemy  and  in  great  danger, 
saved  him  from  destruction.  The  Jews  contested  every 
foot  of  ground,  but  were  at  length  driven  back  into  the 
city. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  Passover,  the  great  feast  that 
was  at  hand  when  this  fight  took  place  at  the  base  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  John  of  Gischala  had  the  audacity  and 
impiety  to  make  an  attack,  in  the  Temple  itself,  upon 
Eleazar's  priestly  Zealots,  who  were  conducting  the  sacrifices 
in  the  inner  court  of  the  Temple.  Many  worshippers 
from  outlying  districts  and  from  far-off  lands  were  slain 
by  the  sword,  or  trampled  to  death  upon  the  sacred 
pavement,  until,  John's  thirst  for  blood  being  appeased,  he 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  347 

came  to  terms  with  his  rival,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
faction  of  Eleazar  coalesced  with  his  own  Zealots,  and  but 
two  opposing  parties  remained  in  the  city  :  John's  followers 
within  the  Temple,  and  Simon's  Idumeans  outside. 

Titus  meantime  was  employing  his  men  in  cutting  down 
the  groves  and  fruit  trees  round  the  city.  The  trees,  pink, 
red,  and  white  with  their  spring  blossoms,  fell  before  the 
axes  of  the  Romans  ;  landmarks  were  thrown  down  ;  water- 
courses destroyed  ;  masses  of  rugged  rocks  were  cast  down 
into  "  the  deep  and  shady  glens "  which  had  been  the 
summer  resort  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.  When  this 
destruction  was  completed,  Titus  made  ready  for  his 
attack.  The  defenders  of  the  city,  who  had  mounted  on 
their  walls  all  the  engines  of  war  that  had  been  taken  from 
Cestius,  employed  fraud  as  well  as  force  against  their 
powerful  enemy,  and  must  have  bitterly  exasperated  the 
Romans,  whom  they  several  times  enticed  into  traps  laid 
for  their  discomfiture.  Within  the  Temple  John  had  a 
force  of  6000  of  his  own  Zealots,  and  2400  allies,  still 
under  the  command  of  Eleazar.  Besides  these  disciplined 
soldiers,  from  the  great  multitude  of  Jewish  pilgrims 
within  the  city,  there  poured  forth  from  time  to  time  a 
furious,  fierce,  brave,  and  disorganized  swarm  of  men,  who 
took  part  in  sallies  from  the  gates,  and  from  the  walls 
hurled  down  great  stones  and  boiling  oil  and  pitch  upon 
the  Roman  soldiers.  At  one  time  the  whole  force  of  the 
besieged  came  swarming  forth,  each  man  bearing  a  blazing 
torch,  to  set  the  battering  machines  on  fire.  A  terrible 
conflict  took  place  around  the  engines,  which  were  saved 
from  destruction  by  the  timely  arrival  of  Titus  with  his 
body  of  horse.  The  young  commander  was  terribly  exas- 
perated. In  later  life  he  was  anxious  to  be  known  as  an 
example  of  clemency,  but  in  his  youthful  days  he  was 
little  better  than  other  Romans  of  his  period ;  besides 
which,  his  father,  Vespasian,  had  ordered  him  to  show  the 
Jews  no  mercy.  The  first  Jewish  prisoner  taken  on  that 
day  was  crucified  in  sight  of  his  friends  and  countrymen, 
and  from  that  time  forward  this  barbarous  death  was 


348  JUDEA. 

meted  out  to  hundreds.  On  the  night  of  that  fierce  fight 
the  Romans  were  thrown  into  a  panic  by  the  fall  of  a  tower 
ninety  feet  high,  which  they  had  built  on  their  embankment, 
to  enable  them  to  throw  darts  and  arrows  into  the  city. 

Titus  soon  after  gained  possession  of  Bezetha,  the  northern 
suburb  of  the  city,  and  of  Agrippa's  wall  which  surrounded 
it.  The  conflict  became  still  more  terrible.  John  and  his 
Zealots  defended  the  Castle  of  Antonia  and  the  Temple 
Mount,  while  Simon,  the  son  of  Gioras,  and  his  soldiers 
defended  the  remainder  of  the  second  wall.  By  day  the 
desperate  courage  of  the  Jews  often  gave  them  small 
advantages ;  though  beyond  the  walls  Roman  discipline 
generally  succeeded  in  driving  back  the  enemy.  At  night 
both  parties  remained  on  the  alert,  —  the  Jews  fearing  a 
night  attack,  the  Romans  some  sudden  surprise.  The 
organized  armies  were  under  the  direction  of  two  skilful 
leaders,  —  the  youthful  Titus,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the 
other,  Simon,  the  son  of  Gioras.  John  of  Gischala  rarely 
ventured  from  the  precincts  of  the  Temple,  dreading  to 
fall  by  treachery  into  the  hands  of  his  rival,  though  his  men 
joined  with  those  of  Simon  in  attacking  the  Romans,  and 
in  defending  the  city. 

At  one  time  Titus  was  greatly  exasperated  by  the  result 
of  an  appeal  made  to  him  for  mercy  by  a  man  named 
Castor,  who  offered  to  capitulate,  and  demanded  a  hear- 
ing. Titus  commissioned  Josephus  to  conduct  the  parley ; 
but  Josephus  was  too  well  aware  of  his  own  unpopularity  in 
Jerusalem  to  venture  within  speaking  distance  of  the  wall. 
That  duty  was  therefore  given  to  one  ^Eneas,  who  received 
a  large  stone  from  the  battlement  upon  his  head.  Castor 
then  set  fire  to  the  tower  from  which  he  had  spoken,  and 
to  all  appearance  leaped,  with  its  garrison,  into  the  flames ; 
they  threw  themselves,  however,  into  one  of  the  sub- 
terranean caverns  beneath  the  city. 

The  second  wall  was  gained  by  the  Romans  a  few  days 
later,  and  there  only  remained  to  be  besieged  or  de- 
fended the  Temple  Mount  and  Mount  Zion.  Titus,  aware 
that  the  men  who  so  stubbornly  resisted  him  were  not 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  349 

citizens  of  Jerusalem,  but  provincials  who  had  from  without 
entered  the  city,  was  desirous  of  propitiating  the  real 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  and  issued  orders  that  no  houses 
should  be  set  on  fire,  and  no  massacres  committed.  But 
this  order  simply  turned  the  wrath  of  the  insurgents 
against  those  supposed  to  be  in  a  measure  under  Roman 
protection.  Next  came  street  fighting,  in  which  the 
Roman  legionaries  were  worsted ;  but  soon  they  had  a 
powerful  ally :  provisions  ran  short,  and  the  besieged  were 
threatened  with  famine. 

At  this  time  came  a  pause,  that  hunger  might  have  time 
to  do  its  work ;  and  Titus,  in  order  to  impress  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  with  the  magnitude  and  magnificence  of  his 
forces,  and  the  hopelessness  of  resistance,  held  a  great 
review  on  a  plain  outside  the  city,  once  covered  with 
luxuriant  gardens,  orchards,  and  shade  trees. 

The  troops  defiled  slowly  within  sight  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem.  It  must  have  been  a  splendid  sight,  this 
Roman  army  "  glorious  to  behold,"  as  it  came  — 

"  Flashing  back  its  lines  of  light, 
Rank  upon  rank  in  surges  bright, 
Like  a  broad  sea  of  gold." 

But  it  did  not  produce  the  expected  effect  on  the  multitude 
who  watched  it  as  it  wound  round  the  wall  of  Jerusalem. 

Then,  as  a  last  effort,  Josephus  was  employed  to  harangue 
his  people,  and  induce  them  to  capitulate.  He  records 
the  long  address  he  made  them,  but  it  was  of  no  effect. 
The  Jews  scoffed  at  him,  reproached  him,  and  hurled  darts 
at  him,  but  he  had  taken  care  to  place  himself  in  a 
coign  of  vantage. 

The  only  effect  of  what  he  said  was  that  those  who  could 
get  away  attempted  to  desert  the  city.  Titus  allowed  such 
as  could  escape  to  pass  through  his  lines  unmolested. 

Famine  in  the  devoted  city  grew  more  and  more  terrible. 
Any  man  who  still  looked  hale  or  strong  was  supposed  to 
have  concealed  a  supply  of  food  ;  his  house  was  searched, 
and  he  himself  executed.  Horrible  stories  are  told  of  those 
days,  when  even  natural  affection  gave  place  to  hunger. 


350  JUDEA. 

One  almost  incredible  instance  is  related  of  a  mother 
who  devoured  her  babe.  "  If  any  wretches,"  says  Dean 
Milman,  "  crept  out  near  the  Roman  posts  to  pick  up 
some  miserable  herbs  or  vegetables,  they  were  plundered 
on  their  return ;  and  if  they  entreated  in  the  name  of  God 
that  some  portion  at  least  might  be  left  them  of  what  they 
had  obtained  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives,  they  might  think 
themselves  well  off  if  they  escaped  being  killed  as  well  as 
pillaged." 

"  The  blood  runs  cold  and  the  heart  sickens,"  says  the 
same  writer,  "  at  these  unexampled  horrors,  and  we  take 
refuge  in  a  kind  of  desperate  hope  that  they  have  been 
exaggerated  by  Josephus,  their  historian  ;  those  which  follow, 
perpetrated  under  his  own  eyes  by  his  Roman  friends,  and 
justified  under  the  all-extenuating  plea  of  necessity,  admit 
of  no  such  reservation,  —  they  must  be  believed  in  their 
naked  and  unmitigated  barbarity." 

Such  miserable  wretches  as  the  Romans  might  pick  up 
prowling  for  food  outside  the  walls,  Titus  had  caused  to  be 
scourged,  tortured,  and  then  crucified.  Sometimes  as  many 
as  five  hundred  of  these  miserable  beings  were  seen  at  once 
by  their  friends  and  fellow-countrymen  writhing  on  crosses 
in  full  sight  from  the  walls.  Such  things  only  exasperated 
the  defenders  of  Jerusalem,  and  Titus,  whenever  he  ap- 
peared, was  met  by  howls  of  rage  and  insult  from  those  who 
saw  him  as  they  manned  the  defences. 

On  the  27th  of  May  all  was  ready  for  a  final  assault,  when 
suddenly  what  seemed  at  first  an  earthquake  crumbled  the 
embankment,  and  overthrew  the  engines  of  the  Romans. 
The  place  where  they  were  posted  had  been  undermined 
by  the  Jewish  leaders ;  pitch,  sulphur,  tar,  and  other  com- 
bustibles had  been  placed  beneath,  and  as  soon  as  these 
were  set  on  fire  an  explosion  took  place.  A  few  days  later 
a  sally,  made  by  the  followers  of  Simon,  set  fire  to  the  great 
battering-ram,  a  mighty  engine  which  the  Jews  themselves 
had  called  Vico  the  Victorious,  and  on  which  the  Romans 
had  counted  to  enable  them  to  complete  the  siege. 

A  furious  attack  followed  this  attempt  to   destroy  the 


THE  SIEGE    OF  JERUSALEM.  351 

engines.  The  Roman  legions  wavered;  the  Jews,  utterly 
regardless  of  self-defence,  pushed  fiercely  on.  Again 
Titus  managed  in  part  to  retrieve  the  day,  but  he  could 
not  restore  the  engines.  A  council  of  war  was  held,  and  it 
was  determined  to  starve  the  city  into  surrender.  Then 
came  the  days  when  were  fulfilled  the  words  of  prophecy : 
"  Thine  enemies  shall  cast  a  trench  about  thee,  compass 
thee  round,  and  keep  thee  in  on  every  side."  Yet,  in  spite 
of  the  terrible  prediction  that  throughout  the  siege  had 
been  shouted  through  the  streets  by  the  voice  of  Joshua, 
the  son  of  Hanan,  "  Woe  to  this  city  !  Woe  !  "  there  were 
many  Jews  who  believed  that  at  the  last  moment  the  hand 
of  the  Lord  would  be  lifted  against  their  enemies,  and  that 
His  people  and  His  Temple  would  be  saved.  The  poor 
fanatic  who  preached  woe  was  at  last  silenced  by  a  stone 
from  a  Roman  engine,  and  died  crying  out,  "  And  woe  to 
me  also  !  "  But  there  were  other  prophets  among  the 
Zealots,  who  kept  up  the  spirits  of  their  party  by  assuring 
all  who  would  listen  to  them  of  ultimate  success. 

The  city  was  filled  with  corpses ;  the  living  had  not 
strength  to  bury  the  dead.  The  most  miserable  wretches 
were  the  inhabitants  —  the  population  of  Jerusalem  ;  the 
soldiery  still  had  provisions,  for  they  plundered  every  house 
and  hiding  place  where  food  might  possibly  be  found.  At 
last,  unable  to  bear  the  stench  of  the  decaying  bodies  of 
those  who  died  of  starvation,  or  were  killed  while  they  tried 
to  defend  their  morsels  of  food,  the  soldiers  flung  the  car- 
casses over  the  wall  into  the  ravines  below. 

Titus,  as  he  rode  round  the  city,  saw  these  corpses 
rotting,  and  the  ground  reeking  with  blood,  wherever  the 
feet  of  his  horse  trod.  "  He  groaned,"  says  Josephus, 
"  and  lifting  up  his  hands  to  heaven  called  God  to  witness 
that  this  was  not  his  work."  * 

1  As  we  read  of  the  horrors  of  these  last  days  in  Jerusalem  "  those 
days  of  tribulation  such  as  were  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world 
to  this  time,  nor  ever  shall  be,"  we  are  apt  to  imagine  that  the 
Jewish  actors  in  such  scenes— John's  Zealots,  Simon's  Idumeans, 
and  the  rest  —  were  monsters  of  wickedness,  such  as  no  other  spot  on 


352  JUDEA. 

Matthias,  the  high-priest,  who  had  been  restored  to  his 
office,  though  not  to  any  authority,  when  the  dominant 
party  grew  ashamed  of  their  election  by  lot  of  Phannias, 
the  stone-cutter,  had  been  a  submissive  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  Simon  son  of  Gioras,  the  Idumean,  whom  indeed 
he  had  invited  into  Jerusalem  some  months  before.  He 
was  now  accused  of  intelligence  with  the  Romans,  and  was 
executed  in  their  sight,  together  with  three  of  his  sons. 
His  only  prayer  was  that  he  might  be  put  to  death  before 
his  children,  but  this  was  denied  him.  The  father  and 
mother  of  Josephus  were  sent  to  prison,  and  fifteen  mem- 
bers of  the  Sanhedrim  were  put  to  death  at  the  same  time. 

Ruthless  and  fanatical  as  were  the  defenders  of  Jerusalem, 
in  a  military  point  of  view  no  city  was  ever  defended  with 
more  skill  or  desperate  courage.  The  Roman  army  was 
growing  dispirited.  New  engines  had  been  constructed  to 
operate  against  the  third  wall  (that  which  surrounded  the 
sacred  mount,  and  Zion).  But  should  the  Jews  for  the 

earth  could  have  bred.  But,  as  Carlyle  says  of  actors  in  the  French 
Revolution,  "  Human  nature  had  flung  off  formulas,  and  came  out 
human."  And  in  times  of  great  distress  an  excitable  people  will  act, 
even  now,  with  the  same  utter  selfishness,  and  the  same  ruthless 
cruelty.  We  have  seen  this  in  a  recent  shipwreck  ;  and  while  writing 
these  pages  I  read  a  review  in  the  London  Spectator  of  Les  Memoires 
du  Sergent  Burgogne  (1812-13).  What  is  there  said  of  the  conduct 
of  the  unhappy  French  on  the  Retreat  from  Moscow  seems  to  me 
exactly  parallel  to  the  scenes  that  took  place  more  than  eighteen 
hundred  years  before  in  Jerusalem,  —  with  this  excuse  in  favor  of  the 
Jews:  The  people  plundered  and  maltreated  by  the  provincial  out- 
laws in  Jerusalem  were  their  bitter  enemies.  Both  parties  hated  each 
other.  The  inhabitants  were  believed  to  be  anxious  to  surrender  the 
city,  and  to  hail  the  Romans  as  deliverers;  while  the  French  soldiers 
were  not  only  fellow-countrymen,  but  companions  in  arms.  "  The 
note  of  retreat  (from  Moscow)  was  supreme  selfishness.  The  instinct 
of  self-preservation  dominated  every  other.  When  men  are  mad- 
dened by  hunger  they  lose  all  sense  of  humanity,  of  right,  or  wrong. 
They  become  for  the  time  wild  beasts.  The  troops  marched  on  with 
bent  heads,  looking  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left.  Those  who 
fell  and  were  too  weak  to  rise  were  left  to  perish,  and  perhaps  theirs 
was  the  better  part.  If  by  good  fortune  a  man  found  a  loaf  or  a 
potato,  his  comrades  would  tear  it  from  him,  and  then  fight  among 
themselves  for  the  morsels." 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  353 

third  time  burn  the  siege  engines  the  reduction  of  the  city 
would  be  hopeless,  since  the  Romans  had  cut  down  every 
tree  within  ten  miles  of  the  place  to  make  these,  their  last 
hope.  Titus  could  not  afford  to  be  unsuccessful;  the 
fortunes  of  the  Flavian  dynasty  hung  on  his  triumph  over 
the  Jews. 

On  the  first  of  July  the  Jews  attacked  the  engines  with 
sword  and  flame ;  but  their  attempt  failed.  The  Romans 
worked  desperately  to  undermine  the  walls  near  the  Castle 
of  Antonia,  and  during  the  night  of  July  41  the  wall  sud- 
denly fell  at  a  place  which  had  been  undermined  before  by 
John  of  Gischala  when  he  was  attacking  the  conservative 
leaders  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  castle.  But  when  the 
Romans  in  the  morning  rushed  to  the  breach,  they  found 
themselves  confronted  by  an  inner  wall. 

Eleven  men,  under  the  leadership  of  a  Syrian,  —  a  common 
soldier  named  Sabinus,  —  volunteered  as  a  forlorn  hope  to 
scale  this  wall.  Sabinus  was  killed,  after  displaying  des- 
perate valor,  and  all  his  men  either  perished  or  were 
wounded.  On  July  5,  however,  at  dead  of  night,  twenty  sol- 
diers of  the  guard  with  a  standard  bearer  and  a  trumpeter, 
crept  silently  up  the  breach,  noiselessly  slew  the  sentinels, 
and  ordered  the  trumpeter  to  blow  a  furious  blast.  The 
watch  fled  in  terror,  believing  that  the  whole  Roman  army 
was  upon  them,  as  indeed  it  soon  was,  and  Titus  had  pos- 
session of  the  Castle  of  Antonia.  Next  came  the  attack 
upon  the  Temple  Mount.  Simon  and  John,  uniting  their 
forces,  fought  furiously  to  defend  the  entrance  to  the  Tem- 
ple. After  ten  hours  of  continuous  combat  Titus  drew  off 
his  men.  Josephus  relates  many  interesting  instances  of 
individual  prowess.  Both  sides  showed  determined  cour- 
age, but  the  city  celebrated  in  sacred  song  as  "  the  joy  of 
the  whole  earth  "  was  now,  so  far  as  its  stones,  its  walls, 
and  its  buildings  were  concerned,  devoted  to  destruction. 

The  daily  sacrifice  had  ceased  for  want  of  victims,  and 
this  circumstance  extinguished  hope  in  the  hearts  of  many 
Jews,  who   till   then   had    believed,  as   John   of  Gischala 
1  Or  the  i7th,  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  date. 
23 


354  JUDEA. 

shouted  to  his  enemy  Josephus,  that  "  they  had  no  cause 
to  fear  the  taking  of  the  city,  for  it  was  the  city  of 
God." 

At  this  time  there  were  men  in  the  Roman  camp  who 
had  once  been  leaders  of  the  conservative  party  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  who  had  contrived  to  desert  the  city.  These 
men,  with  Josephus,  were  desired  by  Titus  to  persuade,  if 
possible,  the  Zealots  who  were  preparing  to  defend  the 
Temple  as  if  it  were  a  fortress,  not  to  profane  so  holy  a 
place  by  making  it  the  scene  of  a  fierce  conflict.  John  of 
Gischala,  however,  would  not  capitulate.  In  the  strength  of 
his  stronghold  was  his  only  trust. 

On  the  twelfth  day  of  July  Titus  sent  a  force  of  picked 
men  to  attack  the  Temple,  while  he  watched  them  from  a 
lofty  turret  on  the  Castle  of  Antonia,  but  it  was  more  than 
three  weeks  before  the  Romans  could  be  said  to  have 
gained  any  decided  advantage.  The  immense  stones  of  the 
Temple  resisted  the  force  of  their  battering-rams,  and 
several  of  their  eagles  had  been  taken. 

There  is  great  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  whether  Titus 
wished  to  spare  or  to  destroy  the  Temple.  On  the  one 
hand  he  was  undoubtedly  desirous  to  gratify  Berenice,  and 
was  surrounded  and  greatly  influenced  by  Jews  who,  though 
bitterly  opposed  to  the  Zealots  and  Idumeans  conducting 
the  defence,  were  most  anxious  to  save  the  Temple.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  may  have  thought  that  to  secure  to  the 
Jews  the  stronghold  of  their  religion  was  only  to  give  oc- 
casion to  fresh  outbreaks  of  fanaticism.  It  seems  probable 
on  the  whole  that  we  may  trust  Josephus  that  Titus,  until  cir- 
cumstances grew  too  strong  for  him,  would  have  gladly  spared 
the  Temple  of  that  God  who,  he  believed,  had  inspired  his 
captive  to  prophesy  his  elevation  to  imperial  power.  While 
the  floors  of  the  Temple  courts  were  red  with  streams  of 
blood  he  attempted,  Josephus  says,  to  make  a  last  remon- 
strance. After  reproaching  the  defenders  of  the  Temple 
for  defiling  their  sacred  place  with  carnage,  he  cried  :  "  I 
call  on  your  Gods,  I  call  on  my  whole  army,  I  call  on 
the  Jews  who  are  with  me,  to  witness  that  I  do  not  force  you 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  355 

to  this  crime.  Come  forth  and  fight  in  any  other  place, 
and  no  Roman  shall  violate  your  sacred  edifice!"  But 
John  of  Gischala  and  his  Zealots  had  no  intention  of  sur- 
rendering their  stronghold.  Some  of  them  still  trusted  that 
the  heathen  would  not  be  permitted  to  set  foot  in  its  Holy 
of  Holies. 

On  the  night  of  one  of  the  first  days  of  August  the 
Roman  commander  chose  thirty  men  from  every  hundred 
to  make  an  assault  upon  the  Temple,  but  after  eight  hours' 
fighting  the  Romans  had  not  gained  a  foot  of  ground. 

Then  they  levelled  part  of  the  Antonia,  and  used  the 
debris  to  fill  up  the  chasm  which  divided  it  from  the  Tem- 
ple, making  a  broad  way,  over  which  their  engines  were 
brought  up  and  put  in  operation.  The  Jews,  with  desperate 
bravery,  fought  on. 

At  that  the  Romans  mounted  on  the  roof  of  the  cloister, 
or  porch,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Temple.  But  the  Jews 
had  laid  a  train  of  combustibles  beneath  this  place,  and  im- 
mediately set  them  on  fire.  The  destruction  of  the  Romans 
who  had  mounted  to  the  roof  of  the  west  cloister  was  ter- 
rible. Deeds  of  desperate  valor  took  place  under  the  eyes 
of  the  young  Caesar,  who  stood  on  the  summit  of  Antonia, 
unable  to  help  his  soldiers  in  their  peril,  bitterly  bemoaning 
their  fate. 

When  a  great  part  of  the  western  cloister  of  the  outer 
court  of  the  Temple  had  been  burned  the  Romans  set  fire 
to  that  on  the  north  side,  and  laid  it  in  ashes,  down  to  the 
spot  where  it  overlooked  the  brook  Hebron. 

On  August  8  the  Roman  engineers  began  to  batter  the 
eastern  cloister  of  the  inner  court,  where  on  the  High  Altar 
the  priests  offered  sacrifice.  Repulsed  on  all  sides,  Titus 
gave  orders  to  fire  the  closed  gates  of  the  inner  court,  which 
were  covered  with  plates  of  silver.  The  fire  and  smoke 
enveloped  the  defenders.  For  eighteen  hours  the  fire 
went  on,  consuming  the  whole  range  of  the  cloisters. 

Then  a  council  of  war  was  held  to  determine  whether 
the  magnificent  Temple  structure,  built  by  Herod  and 
adorned  with  costly  offerings  from  heathen  princes  and 


356  JUDEA. 

from  Jewish  devotees,  should  be  delivered  over  to 
destruction. 

The  council  was  divided  in  opinion,  but  Titus,  who  had 
the  casting  vote,  inclined  to  spare  what  might  be  considered 
one  of  the  wonders  of  the  Roman  world,  and  the  soldiers 
were  ordered  to  subdue  the  flames  in  the  porches. 

It  was  August  10,  the  anniversary  of  the  destruction  of 
the  first  Temple  by  the  King  of  Babylon ;  it  was  night, 
and  Titus  had  retired  to  rest  in  the  Castle  of  Antonia,  when 
a  man  roused  him  from  his  sleep  with  news  that  the  main 
building  of  the  Temple  was  on  fire.  A  soldier,  without 
orders,  had  flung  a  blazing  brand  into  the  Sanctuary.  The 
young  commander  rushed  in  haste  to  stay  the  work  of 
destruction.  It  was  too  late..  The  glittering  and  glorious 
edifice  was  in  flames. 

Titus  and  his  officers  could  now  look  into  the  interior  of 
the  sacred  edifice,  which  no  heathen  eyes  had  seen  since  the 
days  of  Pompey  the  Great.  Its  splendor  filled  them  with 
wonder,  and  no  doubt  with  covetousness.  They  would  have 
stayed  the  mad  fury  of  the  conflagration,  but  the  flames 
were  beyond  their  control. 

Before  the  eyes  of  the  soldiers  were  displayed  treasures 
of  gold,  and  every  other  kind  of  riches.  All  were  mad  for 
pillage ;  they  believed  that  great  wealth  was  laid  up  in  the 
treasure  chambers.  Blinded  and  choked  they  rushed 
through  flame  and  smoke  into  the  Holy  Place  and  the 
Holy  of  Holies.  Titus,  struck  with  awe  and  wonder,  still 
hoped  to  stay  the  flames,  but  his  men,  mad  with  excite- 
ment, were  beyond  the  control  even  of  Roman  discipline, 
and  the  sacred  building  had  to  be  left  to  its  fate. 

In  a  description  of  the  scenes  that  followed,  Josephus 
employed  all  his  eloquence.  The  slaughter  that  went  on  all 
night  was  even  more  appalling  than  the  fury  of  the  confla- 
gration. John  of  Gischala,  at  the  head  of  some  of  his 
men,  cut  his  way  out  of  the  Temple,  and  found  refuge  on 
the  opposite  mount  in  what  was  called  the  Upper  City. 
The  Temple  furniture,  much  coveted  by  the  legionaries, 
was  in  part  plundered,  but  more  was  destroyed. 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  357 

Every  wall  and  every  building  on  the  Temple  Mount 
was  swept  away,  except  a  gallery  which  formed  part  of  an 
inner  cloister ;  here  were  gathered  a  crowd  of  Jews,  for  the 
most  part  women  and  children,  deceived  by  a  false  prophet 
who  had  preached  that  God  had  commanded  all  his  people 
to  go  up  to  His  Holy  Temple  where  He  would  display  His 
mighty  Power  in  the  hour  of  their  necessity.  But  all 
perished,  either  by  massacre  or  by  fire. 

When  nothing  was  left  upon  the  Temple  Mount  but 
smoking  ruins,  the  Roman  army  marched  in  over  the  ashes, 
planted  their  standards  where  the  sanctuary  had  stood,  and 
paid  them  the  usual  worship. 

The  plunder  acquired  by  the  soldiery,  in  spite  of  much 
that  perished  in  the  flames,  was  so  great  that  for  a  time  in 
Syria  the  price  of  gold  declined  to  half  its  value. 

The  upper  city  on  Mount  Zion  still  held  out.  Simon,  son 
of  Gioras,  and  John  of  Gischala  had  found  refuge  there,  with 
the  most  determined  of  their  followers.  But  even  to  these 
desperate  men  resistance  appeared  hopeless.  Many  de- 
manded a  conference.  This  Titus  granted.  He  offered 
to  spare  their  lives  on  condition  of  immediate  surrender. 
They  asked  permission  to  retire  into  the  wilderness  with 
their  wives  and  children.  But  Titus  declined  to  allow  so 
formidable  a  body  of  fighting  men  to  go  at  large.  Hard 
pressed,  many  of  the  richer  Jews  endeavored  to  desert,  or 
to  make  terms  for  themselves  with  the  Romans.  Those 
who  were  spared  were  sold  as  slaves.  One  priest  saved  his 
life  by  surrendering  to  Titus  such  of  the  treasures  of  the 
Temple  as  he  had  secreted,  vessels  and  candlesticks  of  pure 
gold,  and,  above  all,  the  official  vestments  of  the  high- 
priest. 

On  September  7  breaches  were  made  in  the  last  bul- 
wark that  defended  the  besieged  in  the  Upper  City,  by 
mighty  engines  constructed  with  great  difficulty,  owing  to 
the  scarcity  of  timber.  Then  the  courage  of  the  bravest 
fell.  Many  of  the  most  energetic  leaders  plunged  into  the 
subterranean  chambers  that  underlie  Jerusalem.  John  and 
Simon  endeavored  to  force  their  way  out  of  the  city  into 


358  JUDEA. 

the  Vale  of  Siloam ;  but  being  baffled  in  this  attempt,  even 
their  courage  failed  them,  and  they  too  disappeared  into 
the  caverns  underground. 

By  September  8  all  resistance  was  at  an  end.  Men  ex- 
hausted by  fighting  were  driven,  together  with  non-com- 
batants, —  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  —  into  a  small  inner 
court  of  the  Temple,  which  had  escaped  the  burning.  Of 
these  all  who  had  been  in  arms  against  the  Romans 
were  put  to  death,  except  indeed  seven  hundred  young 
men,  the  tallest  and  the  handsomest,  who  were  reserved 
to  grace  the  triumph  of  the  conqueror.  Others  were 
sent  to  Egypt  to  work  in  fetters,  or  were  distributed  in  the 
provinces  to  perish  in  the  amphitheatres.  Those  under 
seventeen  were  sold  as  slaves.  It  took  some  days  to  effect 
this  division  of  the  captives,  during  which  many  died  for 
lack  of  food,  —  some,  because  no  food  had  been  offered 
them ;  others,  who  had  food,  because  they  would  not  eat. 
What  a  contrast  between  heathen  and  Christian  civilization 
does  this  picture  present,  when  we  think  of  the  treatment 
of  captives  in  the  last  war  between  civilized  nations  in  the 
nineteenth  century  ! 

In  the  dark  underground  drains  and  passages  recently 
revealed  to  us  by  the  English  Palestine  Exploration  Society, 
much  wealth  and  many  corpses  were  found ;  many  prisoners 
were  also  made  there  by  the  Romans.  John  of  Gischala 
surrendered  himself,  and  was  condemned  to  lifelong 
imprisonment.  But  no  trace  could  be  found  of  Simon, 
son  of  Gioras ;  he  was  supposed  to  have  effected  his  escape 
in  some  mysterious  manner. 

The  Temple,  as  Herod  had  rebuilt  it,  was  destroyed  to 
its  foundations,  but  these,  consisting  of  the  mighty  blocks 
of  stone  brought  by  Solomon  from  Tyre,  remain  unto  this 
day.  At  their  foot  is  the  Wall  of  Wailing,  to  which  the 
Jews  of  Jerusalem  (excluded  from  that  part  of  the  city  where 
their  Temple  stood  of  old)  come  on  occasions  of  solemnity 
to  wail  and  pray.  Thither  on  June  27,  1898,  came  a  Jew- 
ish congregation,  the  "sons  of  Jacob,"  led  by  their  rabbi, 
and  after  they  had  sung  Psalms  xviii.,  xx.,  xxvii.,xxxv.,  Ixxxiii., 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  359 

and  cxliv.,  all  joined  in  an  especial  prayer  composed  for  the 
occasion  by  their  rabbi,  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  —  "  engaged  in  a  struggle,  not  to  make  broad 
their  territory,  or  to  conquer  neighbors,  but  to  procure  lib- 
erty to  captives,  and  to  deliver  impoverished  people  from 
the  wrath  of  their  despoilers.  .  .  .  Help  them,  O  God," 
he  continued ;  "  send  Thine  angels  before  them,  and  let 
them  succeed,  whithersoever  they  turn.  Uphold  the  hand 
of  the  ruler  of  their  country,  and  crown  its  heroes  with 
the  crown  of  victory.  And  may  a  redeemer  come  to  Zion. 
Amen." 

Eighteen  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  Jerusalem  lay 
desolate.  Her  glory  had  departed,  her  Temple  was 
destroyed,  all  was  over.  Not  only  had  Titus  triumphed 
over  his  enemies,  and  assured  the  imperial  throne  of  the 
known  world  to  the  obscure  family  of  the  Flavii,  but  the 
gods  of  Rome  had  gained  a  mighty  victory  over  the  local 
Deity  of  the  Jews,  the  most  dreaded,  the  most  powerful,  the 
most  mysterious  of  Oriental  divinities.  Not  that  Titus 
probably  cared  even  as  much  for  Jupiter  as  he  did  for 
Jehovah,  the  God  in  whose  name  exaltation  and  success 
had  been  prophesied  to  him  when  he  had  little  expectation 
of  being  promoted  to  the  throne  of  the  Caesars,  but  as  a 
Roman  soldier  he  was  proud  that  Roman  arms  should 
triumph  over  the  most  powerful  of  deities.  The  more  he 
half-believed  in  the  majesty  and  might  of  the  God  of  the 
Jews,  the  greater  must  have  become  his  satisfaction  at 
the  thought  that  he  had  humbled  that  mighty  Being,  had 
levelled  His  Temple,  had  massacred  His  priests,  destroyed 
His  worship,  and  desecrated  the  mount  on  which  for  cen- 
turies He  had  been  supposed  to  display  His  presence  and 
His  power. 

Little  did  Titus  foresee  the  triumph  of  that  God  whom  he 
believed  himself  to  have  humbled.  Little  could  he  antici- 
pate that  in  the  short  space  of  three  hunded  and  eighty  years, 
the  Caesar  and  his  people  would  together  kneel  before  His 
shrine.  Little  could  he  foresee  that  civilization  and  the 
worship  of  the  God  whom  he  thought  he  had  overthrown, 


360  JUDEA. 

would  go  hand  in  hand  over  the  whole  earth,  into  lands 
that  he  had  never  dreamed  of,  into  islands  of  the  sea  where 
empires  should  be  founded  mightier  than  that  of  Rome ; 
into  the  heart  of  Africa;  into  continents  whose  existence 
would  remain  unknown  to  Europe  for  fourteen  hundred 
years ;  and  that  Rome  herself  would  claim  to  be  the  cen- 
tre of  the  worship  of  Him  whose  Temple  at  Jerusalem  he 
had  destroyed. 

Eighteen  months  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and 
its  Temple,  the  Capitol  in  Rome  with  its  temple  to  Jupiter 
Capitolinus,  the  city's  local  divinity,  was  destroyed  by  fire 
(Dec.  19,  A.  D.  68)  in  a  time  of  general  massacre  and  incen- 
diarism. But  the  civilized  world  takes  little  interest  in  the 
conflagration  of  the  Capitol,  beyond  vaguely  regretting  the 
destruction  of  the  historical  documents  and  splendid  statuary 
it  may  have  contained  ;  while  the  worship  in  the  Jewish  Tem- 
ple, the  Temple  itself,  its  construction,  its  very  stones,  its 
final  ruin,  all  are  of  living  interest  to  millions  of  people  to- 
day. The  ground  on  which  the  Temple  stood,  though  now 
occupied  by  a  mosque,  is,  by  that  very  building,  kept  from 
further  desecration,  and  at  least  the  voice  of  prayer  goes  up 
in  it,  announcing  that  there  is  but  One  God,  —  no  heathen 
deity,  but  the  God  of  the  Jews,  of  the  Christians,  and  of 
the  Mohammedans,  though  to  the  profession  of  faith  in 
Him  by  these  last,  alas  !  is  added,  "  and  Mahomet  is  His 
prophet ! " 

From  the  date  when  the  last  defenders  of  Jerusalem  were 
cut  off  (Sept.  8,  A.  D.  70)  and  the  city  "  was  laid  low,  even 
to  the  ground,"  until  the  year  A.  D.  122,  when  in  a  scoffing 
spirit  the  Emperor  Hadrian  endeavored  to  rebuild  Jerusa- 
lem, giving  it  a  new  Roman  name,  Elia  Capitolina,  the  city 
remained  a  heap  of  ruins.  The  wall  to  the  west  was  left 
standing  by  Titus  to  shelter  the  tenth  legion,  and  ever 
after  a  strong  guard  was  left  upon  the  spot,  "  lest  at  some 
moment,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  the  conflagration  might  blaze 
out  that  smouldered  under  those  calcined  rocks.  Men 
trembled  lest  the  spirit  of  life  should  return  to  those  corpses, 
which  seemed  from  below  the  charnel  heap  to  lift  their 


THE  SIEGE   OF  JERUSALEM.  361 

arms  in  affirmation  that  there  still  remained  with  them  the 
promise  of  eternity  !  " 

The  fire  smouldering  beneath  those  ruins  did  indeed 
destroy  paganism,  pagan  Rome,  pagan  Gods,  pagan  em- 
perors, and  pagan  power,  though  it  was  not  by  rapid  con- 
flagration, but  by  slow  burning  from  within,  that  it  compassed 
their  destruction. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   TRIUMPH    OF   THE    CONQUEROR. 

appears  to  have  remained  some  weeks  after  the 
fall  of  Jerusalem  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city, 
offering  sacrifices  to  his  gods  and  giving  largess  to  his 
legionaries.  The  spoils  of  the  city,  and  the  captives,  he  sent 
to  Csesarea.  October  was  too  late  in  the  season  to  under- 
take a  safe  voyage  to  Rome.  He  spent  his  time,  therefore, 
in  feasting  and  in  giving  shows  in  various  cities.  Of  what 
took  place  at  these  celebrations  in  honor  of  his  victory  I 
will  borrow  an  account  from  the  "Antichrist  "  of  M.  Renan  : 

"  Troops  of  Jewish  captives  whom  he  dragged  about  with 
him  were  cast  to  wild  beasts,  burned  alive,  or  forced  to 
fight  one  another.  At  Paneas  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
October  (his  brother  Domitian's  birthday),  more  than 
twenty-five  hundred  Jews  perished  in  the  flames,  or  else  in 
the  horrid  sports  of  the  amphitheatre.  At  Beyrout  (Berytus) 
on  the  seventeenth  of  November,  an  equal  number  were 
sacrificed  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Vespasian.  Hatred 
of  Jews  was  the  ruling  passion  of  the  Syrian  towns,  and 
these  frightful  massacres  were  hailed  with  delight.  The 
most  shocking  thing  of  all  is,  perhaps,  that  Josephus  and 
Agrippa  did  not  quit  Titus  during  this  time,  and  were 
witnesses  of  those  atrocities." 

It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  M.  Renan  had  authority 
for  asserting  the  presence  of  the  Jewish  friends  and  fol- 
lowers of  Titus  at  the  cruel  diversions  of  the  amphitheatre. 
From  the  earliest  introduction  of  such  sports  into  Palestine 
the  Jews  had  expressed  their  abhorrence  of  them.  As 
Josephus  submitted  to  Titus  his  work  upon  the  Jewish  War 
before  it  was  given  to  the  public,  we  can  easily  understand 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  THE   CONQUEROR.         363 

that  although  he  and  others  might  not  have  chosen  to  take 
part  in  such  spectacles,  he  would  not  have  put  his  absence 
upon  record,  nor  have  expressed  pain  and  abhorrence  at 
such  a  barbarous  mode  of  triumph,  out  of  consideration 
for  the  feelings  of  his  patron. 

Titus  during  his  journey  presented  to  Antioch  winged 
cherubim  (not  those,  however,  that  had  once  overshadowed 
the  Ark  in  the  Holy  of  Holies).  "This  curious  trophy  was 
set  in  front  of  the  great  western  gate  of  Antioch,  which  took 
the  name  of  the  Gate  of  the  Cherubim.  Near  this  he  ded- 
icated a  four-horse  chariot  to  the  moon,  in  gratitude  for 
the  help  given  him  by  that  luminary  during  the  siege.  At 
Daphne  he  erected  a  theatre  on  the  site  of  the  Jewish 
synagogue,  with  an  inscription  signifying  that  this  structure 
was  built  from  the  spoil  got  in  Judea." 

While  Titus  was  enjoying  the  feasts  and  games  that 
celebrated  his  hard- won  victory,  Jerusalem  was  left  in 
charge  of  the  tenth  legion,  under  the  command  of 
Terentius  Rufus.  The  soldiers  employed  themselves  in 
seeking  more  plunder  in  the  drains  and  subterranean  pas- 
sages underlying  the  city.  There  too  they  made  many 
prisoners,  and  found  the  corpses  of  many  Jews  who  had 
perished  by  famine. 

One  night,  as  some  soldiers  were  resting  among  the 
ruins  of  the  Temple,  there  rose  suddenly  out  of  the  ground 
at  their  very  feet  an  apparition.  It  was  tall,  gaunt,  clothed 
in  white,  and  wrapped  in  a  purple  mantle.  It  waited  in 
silence  to  be  spoken  to,  when  they  should  recover  them- 
selves. At  last  they  asked  who  it  was  they  saw  before 
them.  The  figure  said,  "  Call  your  general."  Terentius 
Rufus  was  summoned  in  all  haste,  and  then  the  ghastly 
figure  said  that  he  was  the  Idumean  leader,  Simon,  the  son 
of  Gioras.  When  all  was  lost  he  had  leaped  into  a  pas- 
sage underground,  with  a  party  of  men  who  were  workers 
in  stone  and  iron.  They  had  food  with  them,  and  their 
purpose  had  been  to  dig  their  way  out  of  the  cavern  and 
escape,  but  before  this  could  be  accomplished  their  food 
had  been  consumed.  Simon's  purpose  in  so  strangely 


364  JUDEA. 

presenting  himself  was  doubtless  to  inspire  both  the  Roman 
soldiers  and  the  remnant  of  the  Jews  with  an  idea  of  his 
resurrection,  —  his  messiahship.  He  had  succeeded  only 
for  a  moment.  He  was  arrested,  and  news  of  his  capture 
was  sent  to  Titus,  who,  as  the  Romans  considered  Simon 
(not  John  of  Gischala)  the  leader  of  the  party  of  resist- 
ance, deemed  him  a  prize  of  especial  value.  He  was 
ordered  to  be  set  apart  to  grace  the  triumph  of  the  con- 
queror; for  the  heart  of  Titus  was  set  on  a  splendid 
triumph  on  his  return  to  Rome.  It  was  to  surpass  every- 
thing of  the  kind  that  had  ever  been  seen  before.  Ves- 
pasian, his  honest,  plain  old  father,  was  by  no  means  in 
this  matter  of  his  son's  mind,  but  yielded  to  his  wishes; 
since  the  great  victory  had  been  really  gained  by  Titus,  he 
was  willing  to  gratify  him. 

The  ceremony  was  pre-arranged  with  all  the  skill  in 
decorative  art  that  had  been  called  forth  in  processions  in 
the  time  of  Nero.  Titus  desired  especial  pains  to  be  taken 
in  the  reproduction  of  local  color  and  minute  realism.  Surely 
we  may  see  in  this  the  care  of  Providence  for  our  instruc- 
tion. The  chief  objects  in  the  triumphal  procession  were 
to  be  copied  in  marble  on  the  Arch  of  Titus,  a  monu- 
ment which  has  lasted  almost  intact  for  more  than  eighteen 
centuries  to  our  own  day.  On  it  we  may  see  an  exact  re- 
production of  sacred  objects  that  had  adorned  the  Temple. 

As  usual,  the  ceremonies  of  the  triumph  began  with 
religious  rites,  Vespasian  acting  as  chief  pontiff,  Titus 
assisting  in  the  formalities.  Then  began  the  procession. 
I  borrow  the  words  of  M.  Renan  to  describe  it,  for  no  one 
can  paint  a  scene  with  swift  and  vivid  strokes  so  deftly  as 
he  can. 

"  The  procession  was  amazing.  All  the  curiosities  and 
rarities  of  the  world,  the  costly  products  of  Oriental  art, 
were  displayed  in  it  beside  the  finished  work  of  Greek  and 
Roman  skill.  The  empire  having  just  escaped  the  greatest 
danger  it  had  ever  run,  it  would  seem  the  most  pompous 
display  must  be  made  of  its  wealth  and  splendor.  Scaffold- 
ings on  wheels,  three  or  four  stages  in  height,  were  the 


TITUS. 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  THE   CONQUEROR.          365 

objects  of  universal  admiration.  Here  were  seen  dis- 
played all  the  episodes  of  the  war,  each  series  ending  with 
an  exhibition  to  the  life  of  the  strange  figure  made  by 
Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  as  he  emerged  from  his  hiding-place, 
and  the  method  of  his  capture.  The  pale  features  and 
sunken  eyes  of  the  captives  were  disguised  under  the 
superb  garments  they  were  dressed  in.  In  the  midst  was 
Simon  Bar-Gioras  himself,  conducted  in  great  pomp  to 
his  death.  Then  came  the  spoils  of  the  Temple,  —  the 
golden  table,  the  golden  candlestick  with  its  seven 
branches,  the  purple  veil  of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and,  to  end 
the  series  of  trophies,  the  captive,  the  vanquished,  the 
especially  guilty  one  —  the  Book  of  the  Law.  A  parade 
of  victorious  soldiers  closed  the  procession.  Vespasian  and 
Titus  were  borne  in  two  separate  chariots.  Titus  was 
radiant ;  while  Vespasian,  seeing  in  all  this  pomp  only  a 
day  lost  for  business,  was  very  weary  of  it,  and  did  not  try 
to  hide  the  dull  look  of  a  busy  man  expressing  his  im- 
patience that  the  procession  did  not  move  faster,  and 
grumbling  to  himself,  '  A  very  pretty  scrape  I  have 
got  into  !  .  .  .  Well !  I  have  deserved  it.  What  a  fool 
I  have  made  of  myself !  .  .  .  a  man  of  my  age  too !  ' 
Domitian,  sumptuously  attired  and  mounted  on  a  noble 
charger,  pranced  here  and  there  about  his  father  and  his 
elder  brother. 

"  Thus  they  arrived,  by  the  Sacred  Way,  at  the  recon- 
structed temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  the  usual  goal  of  the 
triumphal  march.  At  the  foot  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  they 
made  a  halt  in  order  to  avoid  the  barbarous  part  of  the 
ceremony,  the  execution  of  the  chief  captive.  This  hateful 
custom  was  observed  to  the  letter.  Simon  was  taken  out 
from  the  troop  of  prisoners,  and  dragged  with  a  rope  about 
his  neck,  the  butt  of  unseemly  insults,  to  the  Tarpeian 
Rock,  where  he  was  put  to  death.  When  a  cry  proclaimed 
that  the  enemy  of  Rome  was  no  more,  there  went  up  a 
mighty  shout,  and  the  sacrifices  began.  After  the  custom- 
ary invocations,  the  princes  retired  to  the  Palatine,  and  the 
rest  of  the  day  was  spent  by  all  the  city  in  festival  and 


366  JUDEA. 

rejoicing.  The  Book  of  the  Law  and  the  hangings  of  the 
Temple  were  carried  to  the  Imperial  Palace.  The  furnish- 
ings of  gold,  especially  the  table  for  shew-bread  and  the 
candlestick,  were  laid  aside  in  a  great  building  constructed 
by  Vespasian  over  against  the  Palatine,  across  the  Sacred 
Way,  called  the  Temple  of  Peace,  which  made  a  sort  of 
museum  under  the  Flavian  emperors,  but  was  entirely  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  the  reign  of  Commodus.  .  .  .  Father 
and  son  on  this  occasion  took  each  the  title  of  Imperator, 
but  refused  that  of  Judaicus,  either  because  a  jest  of  Cicero's 
had  in  the  time  of  Pompey  cast  some  scorn  on  it,  or  to  show 
that  the  victory  in  Judea  was  not  a  campaign  against  a  for- 
eign nation,  but  was  only  the  suppression  of  a  revolt  of 
slaves ;  or,  again,  possibly  from  some  secret  motive,  such 
as  Josephus  and  Philostratus  have  hinted  at ;  "  namely,  that 
Titus  ascribed  his  success,  not  to  his  own  valor  or  to  that  of  his 
legions,  but  to  the  wrath  of  an  offended  God  against  the  Jews. 

There  were  still  three  fortresses  untaken  ;  two  of  them  were 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  other  at  no  great 
distance  from  Jerusalem  :  Machserus,  Masada,  and  Hero- 
dium.  When  these  at  last  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans, 
the  massacres  and  the  crucifixion  of  whole  troops  of  Jewish 
captives  were  renewed.  The  Zealots  in  Masada  made  one 
of  the  most  heroic  defences  during  the  war.  But  to  resist 
and  then  to  die  in  the  struggle  was  their  only  hope,  —  they 
could  expect  no  mercy.  When  they  could  hold  out  no 
longer  they  heaped  together  their  property,  and,  falling  on 
the  pile,  slew  one  another ;  the  last  man  setting  fire  to  the 
whole.  This  defence  of  their  last  stronghold  by  the  Zealots 
took  place  about  two  years  after  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem and  the  Temple. 

Judea  was  left  desolate ;  the  lands  of  the  Jews  who  had 
perished  by  the  sword,  or  were  in  exile  or  captivity,  were 
sold  by  order  of  the  frugal  Vespasian ;  the  hills  on  which 
Jerusalem  had  stood  he  annexed  to  his  own  private  domain. 
A  tax  was  laid  on  all  Jews  throughout  the  Roman  empire, 
amounting  to  the  same  sum  that  Judea  had  paid  annually, 
per  capita,  into  the  Temple  Treasury. 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  THE    CONQUEROR.         367 

The  little  band  of  Jews  who  had  been  the  personal 
friends  of  Titus  —  Josephus,  Berenice,  Agrippa,  and  Tibe- 
rius Alexander  —  went  with  him  to  Rome.  At  one  time 
the  imperial  court  circle  was  agitated  by  fears  that  Berenice 
would  become  the  wife  of  Titus,  and  so  empress  of  the 
world.  What  hindered  this,  —  whether  as  a  pious  Jewess 
she  was  unwilling  to  incur  the  odium  of  her  nation,  like  her 
sister  Drusilla,  by  marrying  a  heathen,  and  preferred  to  retain 
over  Titus  her  great  influence  without  marriage,  or  whether 
Titus  was  deterred  by  public  opinion,  and  the  example 
of  his  father,  from  making  an  unsuitable  alliance,  —  we  do 
not  know.  Gossip  and  scandal  were  rife  in  Rome  in  those 
corrupt  days.  The  reputation  of  no  woman  was  safe  from 
the  strife  of  tongues ;  and  Juvenal,  whose  pen  blackened 
the  character  of  Berenice,  very  likely  put  no  faith  in  female 
virtue.  Agrippa  remained  a  resident  of  Rome.  He  does 
not  seem  ever  to  have  gone  back  to  his  dominions.  A 
prastorship  and  an  accession  of  territory  were,  however, 
given  him,  and  he  enjoyed  the  favor  of  Vespasian.  We  do 
not  know  the  date  of  his  death.  Drusilla,  and  her  son  by 
Felix,  perished  in  the  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius.  With 
Agrippa  the  dynasty  of  the  Herodians  became  extinct. 

Josephus  lived  in  Rome  in  great  favor  with  three  of  its 
emperors,  Vespasian,  Titus,  and  Domitian.  Besides  which, 
he  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  the  Empress  Domitia.  His 
estates  were  exempted  from  taxation,  and  he  was  always 
treated  with  great  honor.  One  proof  of  his  influence  with 
Titus  is  told  in  his  autobiography. 

"  When  Jerusalem  was  taken,  Titus  offered  him  any  boon 
that  he  would  ask.  He  chose  the  Sacred  Books  and  the 
lives  of  his  brother  and  fifty  friends.  (His  father  and 
mother  had  been  imprisoned  and  put  to  death  by  the 
Zealots.)  He  was  afterwards  permitted  to  select  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  of  his  friends  and  relatives  from  the  multi- 
tude shut  up  in  the  Temple  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  A  short 
time  after,  near  Tekoa,  he  saw  a  number  of  persons  writhing 
in  the  agonies  of  crucifixion ;  among  the  rest,  three  of  his 
former  intimate  associates.  He  rode  off  with  all  speed  to 


368  JUDEA. 

Titus  to  entreat  their  pardon ;  it  was  granted,  but  two  of 
them  expired  as  they  were  being  taken  down  from  the  cross, 
though  one  survived." 1 

Josephus  had  three  sons  (but  only  one,  Hyrcanus,  lived 
to  man's  estate),  and  he  had  considerable  discomfort  in 
his  matrimonial  relations.  One  wife  he  discarded,  another 
he  formally  divorced,  and  we  may  hope  he  was  happy  with 
his  third,  a  Jewess  from  the  island  of  Crete,  a  lady  of  wealth 
and  position,  and,  as  he  tells  us,  of  admirable  virtue.  In 
Rome  he  wrote  a  '•'  History  of  the  Jewish  War  "  in  the  tongue 
commonly  spoken  among  Jews  in  the  East,  for  he  intended 
it  for  the  instruction  of  his  countrymen  beyond  the 
Euphrates.  He  afterwards  translated  it  into  Greek.  Both 
Titus  and  Agrippa  bore  testimony  to  its  accuracy ;  though 
its  bias  is  unquestionably  in  favor  of  his  patrons  in  Rome. 
Titus  ordered  a  copy  to  be  placed  in  the  public  library,  and 
signed  it  with  his  own  hand,  in  testimony  of  its  being  an 
authentic  memorial  of  his  own  times. 

About  the  year  A.  D.  93,  Josephus  published  his  great 
work  on  the  "  Antiquities  of  the  Jews."  This  book  is  the 
Bible  History,  presented  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  a  favor- 
able impression  upon  Greek  and  Roman  readers.  He  wrote 
also  an  answer  to  Apion,  a  literary  man  in  Alexandria,  who 
had  made  a  collection  of  calumnious  stories  against  the 
Jews.  Finally,  when  he  was  about  fifty-seven  years  of  age, 
during  the  reign  of  Domitian,  he  published  his  auto- 
biography, especially  intended  to  defend  himself  against 
attacks  made  on  him  by  his  countrymen  concerning  his 
administration  in  Galilee.  He  lived  in  high  favor  with 
the  three  Flavian  emperors,  was  enriched  by  them,  and 
made  a  Roman  citizen.  The  date  of  his  death  is  un- 
known. 

In  the  middle  ages  the  writings  of  Josephus  were  in 
great  repute  among  the  Christians,  while  the  Jews  maligned 
him  as  a  traitor  to  his  nation.  Christians  went  so  far  as  to 
declare  him  to  have  been  an  Ebionite  Christian,  that  is,  a 
Christian  who  continued  to  observe  the  Ceremonial  Law  of 

1  Dean  Milman's  "  History  of  the  Jews." 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  THE   CONQUEROR.         369 

the  Jews.  There  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence  to  sustain 
this  opinion. 

His  brief  remarks  in  the  "  Antiquities  "  concerning  our 
Lord  have  been  commonly  considered  a  Christian  interpola- 
tion into  his  work  on  the  "  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,"  but  M. 
Renan  has  accepted  them  as  genuine.  Indeed,  a  man  who 
had  passed  several  years  in  Galilee,  not  a  generation  after  the 
era  of  our  Lord's  preaching,  must  of  necessity  have  heard 
much  of  Him,  and  of  His  miracles.  Had  Josephus  never 
alluded  to  Him,  it  would  have  been  prima  facie  evidence 
that  he  desired  to  suppress  all  account  of  such  a  per- 
sonage. The  passage  is  as  follows  :  "  Now  there  was  about 
this  time  "  (that  is,  during  the  administration  of  Pontius 
Pilate)  "  Jesus,  a  wise  man,  if  it  be  lawful  to  call  him  a  man, 
for  he  was  a  doer  of  wonderful  works,  —  a  teacher  of  such 
men  as  receive  the  truth  with  pleasure.  He  drew  over  to 
him  both  many  of  the  Jews  and  many  of  the  Gentiles.  He 
was  Christ,  and  when  Pilate,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  prin- 
cipal men  among  us,  had  condemned  him  to  the  cross, 
those  who  loved  him  at  first  did  not  forsake  him,  for  he  ap- 
peared to  them  alive  the  third  day,  as  the  divine  prophets 
had  foretold.  These  and  ten  thousand  other  wonderful 
things  concerning  him ;  and  the  tribe  of  Christians,  so 
named  from  him,  are  not  extinct  at  this  day." 

The  triumph  of  Titus,  the  three  hundred  and  twentieth 
of  such  pageants,  exceeded  them  all  in  splendor.  It  not 
only  celebrated  Rome's  triumph  over  a  stubborn  and  re- 
bellious people,  who  had  once  vanquished  the  Roman 
legions,  but  the  exhibition  of  the  spoils  from  God's 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  was  supposed  to  indicate  that  the 
might  of  Jehovah  had  fallen  before  that  of  the  Roman  war- 
gods  and  the  Roman  arms. 

The  Ark  of  the  Covenant  was  not  carried  in  the  proces- 
sion, for  there  was  no  Ark  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  when 
Titus  entered  it,  neither  was  any  .there  when  Pompey  was 
so  much  impressed  by  finding  that  the  Jews  worshipped  a 
Deity  who  was  a  Spirit,  with  no  outward  symbol  of  His 
presence ;  but  there  were  the  table  for  shewbread ;  the  cups 

24 


370  JUDEA. 

for  frankincense,  which  stood  upon  it ;  the  silver  trumpets ; 
and  the  golden  candlestick  made  after  the  pattern  of  that 
which  Moses  was  commanded  to  place  in  the  Tabernacle. 

These  objects,  copied  in  sculpture  from  the  originals,  we 
ourselves  may  see  to  this  day  upon  the  Arch  of  Titus,  at 
least  in  photography.  The  table  of  shewbread  was  of 
silver.  It  had  originally  a  border  of  gold  around  the  top 
of  it,  which  appears  to  have  been  torn  off  in  some  of  the 
spoliations  of  the  Temple  which  took  place  in  the  days  of 
the  later  Asmoneans.  On  this  table  every  Sabbath  were 
placed  twelve  loaves  made  of  fine  flour,  six  in  a  pile,  and 
on  the  top  of  each  pile  was  placed  a  small  cup  containing 
frankincense.  The  cakes,  when  fresh  ones  were  provided, 
were  given  to  the  officiating  priests,  but  the  frankincense 
was  burnt.  The  cups  that  contained  it  are  shown  in  the 
sculpture. 

The  silver  trumpets,  each  a  little  less  than  a  cubit  long, 
which  were  first  used  for  signals  to  the  people  in  their 
camp  in  the  wilderness,  were  by  the  Romans  borne  upon 
the  table  of  shewbread. 

The  golden  candlestick,  the  most  conspicuous  object  in 
the  procession,  was  not  perfect.  The  three  tall  legs  on 
which  it  had  stood  had  been  wrenched  off,  and  were  re- 
placed by  a  Roman  pedestal,  adorned  with  eagles  and 
mythical  animals,  which  the  Jews  never  would  have  ad- 
mitted into  their  Temple. 

We  must  remember  the  construction  of  the  Holy  Temple, 
after  whose  pattern  no  Jew  was  permitted  to  build  a  house. 
It  was  not  large,  and  consisted  of  two  chambers,  —  the 
Holy  Place  and  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Neither  of  these  had 
windows.  The  Holy  of  Holies  (entered  only  by  the  high- 
priest,  and  that  only  once  a  year)  was  shut  off  from  the 
Holy  Place  by  the  "  veil  of  the  Temple,"  and  light  was  ad- 
mitted only  when  that  veil  was  withdrawn.  The  Holy 
Place  was  lighted  by  the  great  seven-branched  candle- 
stick, one  lamp  on  which  was  never  suffered  to  go  out.  It 
must  have  been  tall,  for  the  priests  stood  upon  steps  to 
light  it,  or  to  obtain  fire  from  the  light  that  was  ever  burn- 


THE    TRIUMPH  OF  THE   CONQUEROR.          371 

ing.  It  had  a  central  column,  and  six  branches,  three  on 
on  each  side.  It  must  have  been  magnificent,  but  was 
certainly  not  beautiful. 

"We  see,"  says  a  divine,  who  in  1867  gave,  in  Bristol, 
England,  a  lecture,  published  afterwards  as  a  book,  on  "  The 
Arch  of  Titus  and  the  Spoils  of  the  Temple,"  l  —  "we  see 
how  this  Arch  subserves  a  purpose  which  was  never  thought 
of  by  the  Romans  who  erected  it.  They  built  it  to  perpet- 
uate the  triumph  of  their  arms,  and  of  the  general  who  had 
led  them  on  to  victory.  They  exhibited  him  and  his  victo- 
rious army  in  what  they  deemed  the  summit  of  human 
glory,  and  with  a  view  to  transmit  to  future  times  some  rec- 
ord of  the  power  and  splendor  of  that  empire  which,  as  it 
had  extended  to  the  ends  of  the  known  world,  they  fondly 
hoped  would  last  forever. 

"  But  the  Arch  now  stands,  not  a  monument  to  Titus,  but 
to  the  God  of  the  Jews.  The  spoils  that  Titus  bore  in  tri- 
umph from  His  Temple  establish  the  truth  of  His  Word, 
the  claims  of  His  kingdom,  and  the  prophetical  foresight 
of  Him  who,  named  King  of  the  Jews  by  Pilate,  has,  in  vir- 
tue of  that  title,  established  a  kingdom  destined  to  surpass 
the  utmost  limits  of  the  sway  of  Rome." 

Do  we  ask  what  has  become  of  the  original  spoils  of 
gold  and  silver  that  in  the  transitory  triumph  of  Titus 
feasted  the  eyes  of  the  heathen  multitude,  who  probably 
regarded  them  as  nothing  more  than  relics  of  the  worship 
of  another  of  those  deities  who  had,  from  time  to  time, 
submitted  to  the  Roman  war-god  as  unable  to  protect 
their  worshippers? 

Vespasian  deposited  his  spoils  in  a  new  temple,  the 
largest  and  most  beautiful  in  Rome,  the  richest  also  in  the 
treasures  it  contained.  But  this  beautiful  shrine  that  was  to 
have  been  a  perpetual  memorial  of  his  successful  career  was 
burnt  to  the  ground  after  standing  a  little  longer  than  a 
century,  and  as  no  one  ever  knew  what  caused  the  fire  that 
consumed  it ;  its  destruction  was  looked  upon  as  an  omen 
of  disaster  sent  by  the  gods. 

1  Rev.  W.  Knight,  The  Arch  of  Titus. 


3/2  JUDEA. 

Traditions  say,  however,  that  the  spoils  of  Jerusalem  did 
not  perish  in  this  temple  ;  but  how  they  were  saved  (if  they 
were  saved),  and  by  whom,  is  not  known.  A  story  was 
long  current  that  the  golden  candlestick  was  lost  in  the 
Tiber,  but  nothing  substantiates  that  report. 

When  Genseric  the  Vandal  plundered  Rome  in  A.D.  455, 
he  sent  on  board  his  ships  all  the  money  he  obtained,  and 
golden  treasures  and  jewels,  the  spoil  of  Christian  churches  ; 
also,  it  is  said,  "  Hebrew  vessels  that  Titus  had  brought  to 
Rome  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem."  With  these,  and 
ladies  of  the  imperial  family,  whom  he  took  captive,  he 
sailed  to  Africa ;  and  we  are  told  by  Procopius,  who  wrote 
a  history  of  the  Vandal  war,  that  Belisarius,  after  his  cam- 
paign in  Africa  in  A.D.  534,  brought  great  spoil  to  Byzantium  ; 
that  he  there  displayed  the  treasures  he  had  brought  home 
in  a  minor  sort  of  triumph  •  that  besides  the  thrones  and 
chariots  of  the  Vandal  queen  which  graced  his  pageant,  he 
had  recovered  the  spoils  carried  off  by  Genseric,  amongst 
them  golden  vessels  which  Titus  had  captured  in  the  Jewish 
Temple.  It  having  been  pointed  out  that  these  sacred 
spoils  had  always  brought  misfortune  on  whoever  had  pos- 
session of  them,  Justinian  is  said  to  have  sent  them  to  one 
of  the  Christian  churches  of  Jerusalem.  If  so,  they  were 
probably  plundered  and  carried  off  with  other  sacred  ob- 
jects by  the  Persians.  But  history  does  not  tell  us  with  any 
certainty  that  they  ever  reached  any  one  of  the  Christian 
churches  that  after  the  days  of  Constantine  sprang  up  in 
Syria  and  Jerusalem  ;  nor  do  we  even  know  if  the  table, 
the  candlestick,  the  cups,  and  the  trumpets  borne  in  the 
triumph  of  Titus  were  included  in  the  spoils  carried  from 
Rome  to  Africa  by  the  King  of  the  Vandals. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Abiathar,  high-priest,  23. 
Abomination  of  desolation,   126,  138 
Abraham,  52. 

Actium,  battle  of,  227,  228. 
Adiabene,  princes  of,  222,  296,  518. 
/Emilius,    Scaurus,    proconsul,    201, 

207. 

jEschylus,  quoted,  13. 
Agrippa  I.     See  Herod  Agrippa. 
Agrippa  II.,  293,  294,  297,  303,  304, 

3°5.  3°8>  3°9f  3IO>  3I2i  314>  3l6> 

318,  323,  367. 
Agrippa,  son  of  Felix  and  Drusilla, 

300. 

Agrippina,  Empress,  298. 
Ahuramazda,  79. 
Akra,  citadel  of,   124,  125,    131,   143, 

158,  167,   168. 

Albinius,  procurator,  303-305. 
Alcimus,    high-priest,    146,   147,  148, 

153- 

Alexander  Balas.  158-161. 

Alexander  Jannaeus,  189-193. 

Alexander,  son  of  Aristobulus,  205, 
208,  209,  210. 

Alexander,  son  of  Herod  and  Mari- 
amne.  234,  235,  238,  239. 

Alexander  the  Great,  34,  78-88  ;  di- 
vision of  his  dominions,  87,  88. 

Alexandra,  mother  of  Mariamne,  208, 
214. 

Alexandra  (Salome),  queen,  194-198. 

Alexandra,  sister  of  Mariamne,  210. 

Alexandria,  city  of,  86,  87 ;  Jews  in, 
92-90,  283. 

Amestris,  wife  of  Cyrus,  50. 


Ammianus,  quoted,  13. 

Ananias,    high-priest,    302-305,    314, 

Anavim,  40,  113. 

Andronicus,  122. 

Annas  (Hanan),  high-priest,  258,  259. 

Antichrist,  Nero  considered  as,  by  M. 

Kenan,  319. 
Antigonus,    brother    of    Aristobulus, 

188,  189. 

Antigonus-Mattathiah,  205,  215-217, 
Antigonus  of  Socho,  103. 
Antioch,  city  of,  86,  90. 
Antiochus  III.  of  Syria,  no. 
Antiochus  VI.,  162. 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  116,    118-120, 

121-129,  135,  142,  143. 
Antiochus  Eupator,  143,  146,  147. 
Antiochus  Hierax,  100,  101. 
Antiochus  Sidetes,  169-172. 
Antiochus    the   Great,   107-110,   115, 

116. 
Antonia,  Castle  of,  232,  247,  304,  314, 

353,  354,  355,  35°- 
Antonia,  widow  of  Drusus,  276,  279, 

280,  281. 

Antipas.     See  Herod  Antipas. 
Antipater,  father  of  Herod,  199,  208, 

209,  210,  213. 

Antipater,  grandfather  of  Herod,  199. 
Antipater,    son   of   Herod,   238,   240, 

242. 

Apion,  183,  284. 

Apis,  bull  not  killed  by  Cambyses,  35. 
Apollonius,  117,  124,  133. 
Aramean  language,  70,  93. 
Archelaus,    ethnarch   of  Judea,   244- 

247,  249. 


3/6  INDEX. 


Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia,  238 

239- 

Archives  of  Persia,  39. 
Aretas.     See  Hareth. 
Aristobulus, brother  of  Herod  Agrippa 

278,  288. 

Aristobulus,  high-priest,  226. 
Aristobulus,    son  of  Alexander   Jan- 

nxus,  196-206. 
Aristobulus,  son  of  Herod,  234,  235, 

238. 
Aristobulus,  son   of  John   Hyrcanus, 

188,  189. 

Ark  of  the  Covenant,  25,  369. 
Arnold,  Dr.,  quoted,  81,  82. 
Artaxerxes  I.,  Longimanus,  54-56,  64, 

65,  75,  78. 

Artaxerxes  II.,  Mnemon,  78. 
Artaxerxes  III.,  Ochus,  78,79. 
Asmonean,    dynasty,    132,    140,   179, 

1 80,  204. 

Assumption  of  Moses,  218. 
Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  14,  15. 
Athenobius,  169,  170. 
Augustus  Caesar,  Emperor,  220,  231, 

232,   233,  238>  239,  242,   247,  249, 

256,  259,  286.     See  Octavius. 


B. 

Baba,  sons  of,  230. 

Bacchides,   Syrian  general,    147,  150, 

'Si.  153-  »54,  *55,  X56,  157- 
Bagoses,  78,  79,  80. 
Bardes  (Smerdis),  son  of  Cyrus,  34, 

35- 

Baris  (or  Bira),  tower  of,  72,  168. 
Baruch,  Book  of,  218. 
Behistun,  Rock  of,  46,  47. 
Bel.     See  Merodach. 
Belshazzar,   son    of    Nabonidos,    16, 

18. 

Beni  Jambri,  153,  154. 
Berenice,  mother  of  Herod  Agrippa, 

276. 
Berenice,    sister  of    Herod   Agrippa, 

293.  299,  300.  310,  367. 
Beth-Basi,  156. 

Bethhoron,  129,  136,  137,  317. 
Bethsura,  139,  144. 
Boethus,  family  of,  225,  236. 


c. 


Caesar,  Julius,  209-211,  220. 
Cassarea,  233,  300,  301,  362. 
Cassarea-Philippi,  256. 
Caiaphas,    Joseph,    high-priest,    259, 

266,  294. 
Caligula  (Caius),  Emperor,  262,  279, 

280,  282,  286,  288,  289. 
Cambyses,  son  of  Cyrus,  33,  34,  37,  55. 
Captivity,  return  from,  22-30,  56,  57, 

58. 

Casaiphia,  suburb  of  Babylon,  57. 
Cassius,  Caius  Longinus,  209, 212,  215. 
Cendebasus,    the     Hyrcanian    Syrian 

general,  170. 
Cestius  Callus,  Legate  of  Syria,  306, 

308,  316-318. 
Chaldee,  70. 

Chasidim,  76,  104,  112, 131,  150,  175, 
Cherubim,  363. 
Christ,  date  of  His  birth,  240,  241  ; 

spoken  of  by  Josephus,  369  ;  date  of 

crucifixion,  268. 

Christians  in  Jerusalem,  303,  304. 
Cicero,  204,  220. 

Claudius,  Emperor,  290,  291,  297,  299. 
Cleopatra  of  Egypt,  favors  the  Jews, 

174  ;  friendship  for  Alexandra,  226; 

visits  Herod,  227. 
Cleopatra,  wife  of  Balas,  160. 
Cleopatra,  wife  of  Herod,  225,  244. 
Codomannus.     See  Darius. 
Collegia,  220. 
Costobarus,  230. 
Covenant,  Book  of,  53. 
Crassus,  proconsul  of  Syria,  209. 
Cumanus,  Ventidius,  procurator,  297, 

298. 

Cunaxa,  battle  of,  78. 
Cylinder  of  Cyrus,  19,  21. 
Cypros,  mother  of  Herod,  213,  225. 
Cypros,  wife  of  Herod  Agrippa,  276, 

277,  279. 
Cyrus  the  Great,  13-27,  33,  34. 


D. 

Daphne,  shrine  of  Apollo  at  Antioch 

122,  363. 

Darius  Codomannus,  80.  82. 
Darius  Hystaspes,  35,  37,  46-49,  63  ; 

illustrious  Greeks  in  his  day,  49. 


INDEX. 


377 


Darius  Nothus,  18. 

Demetrius  I.,  119,  147,  157,  158,  160, 

162. 
Demetrius    II.,    160,    161,    162,    165; 

169,  172. 

Demetrius  III.,  192. 
Deuteronomy,  Book  of,  53,  70. 
Diogenes,  captain  of  mercenaries,  196. 
Dispora,  92,  218-222,  295-297. 
Dium,  86. 
Dok,  170. 

Doris,  wife  of  Herod,  213. 
Dositheus,  159. 
Drusilla,    wife    of    Felix,    298,    299, 

300. 
Drusus,  son  of  Tiberius,  276,  277,  279. 


E. 

Eagle,   golden,   destroyed,   241,    242, 

245. 

Eagles,  Roman  standards,  266. 
Ecbatana,  39. 
Ecclesiasticus,    Book    of,    103,     104, 

129. 

Egypt,  182,  183,  192. 
Elam.  14. 
Eleazar,  Avaran,  fourth  son  of  Matta- 

thiah,  143. 
Eleazar,  governor  of  the  Temple,  and 

leader  of  the  Zealots,  313,  315,  341, 

346,  347- 

Eleazar,  martyr,  127. 
Eleazar,    reproves     John    Hyrcanus, 

So. 

Eli,  house  of,  23. 

Eliashib,  high-priest,  68,  73,  75,  79. 
Emmaus,  137. 
Enoch,  Book  of,  235. 
Enrolments,    under    Quirinius,    240, 

241,  256-258. 
Esdras,  Books  of,  62. 
Essenes,  177-179,  181,  182. 
Esther,  Book  of,  49-51. 
Eusebius,  269,  270. 
Evil-Merodach,  22. 
Expectation  of  a  deliverer,  294-297, 

3,6. 

Ezekiel,  24,  32,  93. 
Ezra,  53-64,  70,  71,  72,  76,  77;  Book 

of,  21,  62,  63,  64. 


F. 

Fadus,  Cuspius,  procurator,  293,  294f 

297. 

Farrar,  Dean,  quoted,  263,  275,  276. 
Feast  of  Lights,    196 ;    of   Passover, 

199,  200,   246,    344,  345,  346;  of 

Purim,  51 ;  of  Tabernacles,  72,  191. 
Felix,  Claudius,  procurator,  298,  299. 
Festus,  Porcius,  procurator,  299,  300. 
Flaccus,  governor  of  Syria  and  Egypt, 

defended  by  Cicero,  278,  282,  283. 
Florus,  Gessius,  procurator,  305-308, 

3C9.  3IO»  312- 


G. 

Gabinius,  lieutenant  of  Pompey,  202, 

203,  207,  208. 
Galba,  Emperor,  331,  332. 
Galilee,  91,  252-255,  321. 
Gamala,  siege  of,  329,  330. 
Gauls,  100,  101. 
Geshem,  Arab  chief,  73. 
Gischala,  330. 
Glaphyra,    princess     of     Cappadocia 

thrice  married,  249. 
Gomates  (or  Gaumata),  35. 
Gorgias,  Syrian  general,  135,  137,  138, 

142 
Graetz,  Professor,  quoted,  on  mixed 

marriages,   60,    61;    on   Simon  the 

Just,  101  ;  on  Hellenists,  112,  113; 

on  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  175- 

177- 

Graffiti  at  Pompeii,  123. 
Gratus,  Valerius,  procurator,  259,  265. 
Guttmacher,     Rabbi     in     Baltimore, 

quoted,  on  spirituality,  77. 


H. 

Hagada,  182,  183. 
Hagar,  52. 

Haggai,  prophet.  37,  38,  42. 
Hanan  (Annas),  high-priest,  303. 
Hanan,  the  younger,  302. 
Hananel,  high-priest,  225,  226. 
Hanani,  64. 

Hannibal,  at  the  court  of  Antiochus, 
109,  115,  116. 


378 


INDEX. 


Hareth  (Aretas),  Arab  king,  197,  199, 

201,  260. 

Helena,  Queen  of  Adiabene,  296. 
Heliodorus,  no,  in,  119. 
Hellenism,  90,  91,  112,  113,  117-  19, 

120,  121. 
Herod  Agrippa,  261,   262,    275-282, 

288-294,  297. 
Herod   Antipas,  246,  247,   252,  253, 

255,  260-263,  269,  277,  278. 
Herod  Philip,  242,  244,  252. 
Herod  the  Great,  199,  211,  212,  215, 

217,  222-225,  22S~237>  239-243. 
Herodias,  253,  260,  262,  277,  283. 
Herodium,  243. 
Herodotus,  qttoted,  13. 
Hilkiah,  descendants  of,  53. 
Hillel,  250,  251. 
Horace,  Epistles  of,  277. 
Hunter,  Rev.  R.  H..  quoted,  14. 
Hyrcania,  35. 
Hyrcanus,  high-priest  and  king,  195, 

197-205,  211,  212,  215,  226,  228. 
Hyrcanus,  John,  high-priest  and  king, 

170-174,  180,  iSS. 
Hyrcanus,  son  of  Joseph  ben  Tobiah, 

113,  114. 
Hystaspes,  father  of  Darius,  35 . 


I. 

Iddo,  57. 

Idumeans,  141,  173,  174;  called  into 

Jerusalem    under    Simon,    son    of 

Gioras,  336-338. 
Ionian  revolt  from  Darius,  48. 
Isaiah,  160,  186. 
Isis,  worship  of,  222,  259. 
Ithamar,  house  of,  23. 
Ituraea,  -73. 


J- 

Jaddua,  high-priest,  interview  with 
Alexander,  83,  84. 

James  the  Less,  302,  303,  304. 

Jason,  high-priest  and  leader  of  Hel- 
lenists, 117,  121,  122,  123. 

Jechoniah,  king,  22,  23. 

Jeremiah,  Book  of,  26. 

Jericho,  170,  171,  227,  249. 


Jerusalem,  its  desolation,  28,  29,  66 ; 
dedication  of  new  wall,  69,  70 ; 
visited  by  Alexander,  84 ;  taken  by 
Ptolemy  Lagus,  88 ;  by  Ptolemy 
Philopater,  107 ;  visited  by  Anti- 
ochus  the  Great,  108,  109  ;  in  the 
civil  war  between  Aristobulus  and 
Hyrcanus,  199,  200  ;  taken  by 
Pompey,  204 ;  Greek  games  estab- 
lished by  Herod,  231,  232  ;  disturb- 
ances under  Pilate,  266,  268 ; 
anarchy  before  the  siege  by  Titus, 
307-315;  the  siege,  343-359;  its 
desolation,  360. 

Jesus  of  Gamara,  Jewish  leader,  336, 

337- 

Jewish  colony  in  Rome,  206,  219-221. 

Jewish  literature,  40,  41,  103-105, 
182-187. 

Jews,  their  persecution  under  Naboni- 
dos,  16  ;  their  return  to  Jerusalem, 
22-30  ;  discord  in  the  priesthood, 
36,  37  ;  mixed  marriages,  51-53, 
59,  60,  6 1  ;  rejoice  at  reading  of 
the  Law,  72  ;  prosperity  under  the 
Ptolemies,  88,  89 ;  prosperity  in 
Antioch,  90 ;  the  Dispersion  or 
Dispora,  92,  218,  219,  221,  222; 
religious  instruction  among  the  dis- 
persed, 93-99 ;  propaganda,  98, 
99  ;  by  literature.  182-187  ;  by 
character,  222 ;  by  mission  work 
among  Gentiles  (see  Adiabene)  ;  by 
force  in  Palestine,  173,  174;  rise  of 
Hellenism  among  Jews  in  Pales- 
tine, 112,  113  ;  growth  of  Hellenism, 
117-119  ;  persecution  by  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  124-132  ;  unpopularity, 
183,  219 ;  Jews  desire  a  republic, 
202,  247  ;  massacre  in  Rome  under 
Tiberius,  259,  260;  they  resist 
Pilate,  266-268;  they  resist  Caligula, 
287-289 :  expect  a  deliverer,  2m- 
296  ;  massacre  by  Flortis,  307,  308  ; 
insurrection  and  anarchy,  313-318. 

Joel,  prophet.  45. 

Johanan,  high-priest,  58;  murders  his 
brother.  79. 

John  Gaddis,  eldest  son  of  Mattathiah, 

John  Hyrcanus,  170,  171,  172,  173, 
180,  181. 


INDEX. 


379 


John  of  Gischala,  322,  334,  336,  339, 

34i»  342»  34»,  353.  354,  3 

John  the  Baptist,  260,  261. 

Joiada,  75,  79. 

Jonathan  Apphis,  sixth  son  of  Matta- 
thiah,  high-priest  and  ruler  of  the 
Jews,  152-157,  158-164,  166,  167. 

Joppa,  86,  166,  i6S. 

Joseph,  52. 

Joseph  ben  Tobiah,  106,  107. 

Josephus,  Flavius,  descent  and  early 
years,  167,  311,  312  ;  his  position  in 
Jerusalem  during  the  insurrection, 
318 ;  governs  Galilee,  321-324 ; 
defence  of  Jotopata,  325,  326  ;  cap- 
ture, 327  ;  prophesies  to  Vespasian, 
328 ;  is  with  Titus  at  the  siege, 
and  pleads  with  his  people,  349, 
354 ;  favors  from  Titus,  367,  368 ; 
literary  work,  368,  369. 

Joshua,  son  of  Jozadak,  high-priest, 

23,  42,  43,  58- 

Jotopata,  siege  of,  325,  326. 

Judah  ben  Tobai,  president  of 
Sanhedrim,  195. 

Judah,  princes  of,  extinction,  44. 

Judas,  descendant  of  Hezekiah,  257. 

Judas  Maccabaeus,  third  son  of  Matta- 
thiah,  132,  133,  134;  victory  over 
Appolonius,  132  ;  victory  over  Seron, 
134 ;  victory  over  Nicanor  and 
Gorgias,  i36-n8  ;  cleanses  the  Tem- 
ple, 139;  ruler  of  the  Jews,  140- 
143  ;  defeat  at  Beth-zachariah,  143  ; 
victories  beyond  Jordan,  141,  142; 
defeats  and  kills  Nicanor,  148  ; 
embassy  to  Rome,  150  ;  deserted 
by  the  Chasidim,  144,  150;  defeat 
at  Eleasa  and  death,  150,  i;i. 

Judea,  on  the  return  from  Babylon, 
28;  after  death  of  Cyrus,  35  ;  picture 
of  poverty  drawn  by  Joel,  45,  46; 
reforms  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
53  ;  a  blank  space  in  its  history, 
78 ;  its  relations  with  Alexander, 
82;  prosperity  under  the  Ptolemies, 
94,  102;  Asmonean  dynasty,  140; 
independence  attained,  159,  165, 
166;  size  of,  192,  193;  desolation 
of  the  country  after  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  366. 

Julius  Caesar.     (See  Caesar). 


Julius  II.,  Pope,  in. 

Jupiter  Ammon,  offerings  sent  to  his 

temple  in  Lybia,  84. 
Justin  Martyr,  96,  269. 


K. 

Kassandene  wife  of  Cyrus,  15. 
Kitto's  Biblical  Encyclopaedia,  quoted, 

24°,  343- 

Knight,  W.,  quoted,  371. 
Kurush,     Kurash,     Korash,     Kyros, 

names  for  Cyrus,  13. 


Laomedon,  87. 

Legion,  Roman,  343. 

Levites,  few  in  the  return  from  Baby- 
lon, 24  ;  few  found  in  Jerusalem  by 
Nehemiah,  69 ;  few  willing  to  return 
with  Ezra,  57;  Nehemiah  protects 
their  rights,  67 ;  discord  between 
them  and  the  priesthood,  41. 

Lysias,  Syrian  general,  135,  138,  140, 
141,  J43-H5>  H7- 


M. 

Maccabaeus.     See  Judas  Maccabseus. 
Maccabees,  Books  of  the,  108,  128,  149, 

193- 
Maccabees,    mother   of    the    (woman 

so  called),  127. 

Machaerus  fortress,  208,  233,  242,  260. 
Malachi,  45,  77. 
Malthace,  wife  of  Herod,  240. 
Manahem,   Jewish    insurgent    leader, 

3M,  3*5- 

Manasseh,  high-priest  on  Gerizim,  75. 
Marathon,  battle  of,  48. 
Mariamne,    another    wife  of    Herod, 

244. 
Mariamne,  Asmonean  princess,  wife  of 

Herod,  213,  217,  225,  226,  229,  232. 
Mark  Antony,  208,  214,  216,  226,  227. 
Marsyas,  278,  281. 
Marriages,  mixed,   28,  29,  51-53,  59- 

61,  72. 

Masada.  fortress  of,  313,  324. 
Mattathiah,  129,  130,  131,  132. 


38o 


INDEX. 


Meade,  Bishop,  quoted,  74,  75. 
Menahem,  an  Essene,  251. 
Menelaus,  high-priest,  116,  122,  140, 

145. 
Mercer,  Rev.  A.  G.,  quoted,  on  Pilate, 

273;  on  the  Jews,  295. 
Merodach  (Bel),  15, 16,  18,  20,  27,  85. 
Micah,  Book  of,  quoted,  98. 
Milman,  Dean,  quoted,  289,  290,  321. 
Mithra,  79. 

Mithridates,  200,  202. 
Modin,  129,  130,  131,  137,  167,  170. 
Moloch  (or   Melkart),   offerings   sent 

by  high-priest  to  Tyre,  84,  121. 
Mordecai,  42,  51. 
Moses,  52. 
Moss,  R.  Waddy,  quoted,  128. 


N. 

Nabathean  Arabs,  153,  154,  207,  227. 
Nabonidos,  king  of  Babylon,  14,  15, 

16,  18,  19. 
Nebo,  16. 

Nebuzardan,  army  of,  25,  27. 
Nehemiah,  Book  of,  63,  65. 
Nehemiah     compared     with     Scott's 

Baillie  Nicol  Jarvie,  67. 
Nehemiah,     governor    of   Jerusalem, 

64-75  ;  his  memoir,  quoted,  45,  65. 
Nethinim,  40,  57. 
Nero,   Emperor,  300,  317,  319,   320, 

332- 
Nicanor,  Syrian  general,  135,  137, 138, 

145,  148. 
Nicaso,  75. 

Nicolaus  of  Damascus,  234,  239,  246. 
Niger,  318,  320. 


O. 

Octavius,  227-229.     See  Augustus. 

Odomara,  Arab  chief,  156. 

Onias  I.,  high-priest,  90,  105,  in. 

Onias  II.,  high-priest,  90,  116. 

Onias  III.,  high-priest,  122. 

Onias   builds   temple  at   Leontopolis 

in  Egypt,  159,  160. 
Onias,  martyr,  200. 
Origen,  62. 
Otho,  Emperor,  332 


P. 

Passover,  the  last,  345,  346. 
Pekah,  31. 

Pel  la,  city  of,  86,  192,  304. 
Petronius,  Publius,  286-289. 
Phannias,    stone-cutter,    made  high- 

P"est,  335,  352. 
Pharisees,  175,  176,  180,  195,  196,  204, 

211,251-254. 
Phasael,  brother  of  Herod,  211,  214, 

215,  216,  232. 
Philip,  appointed  regent  by  Antiochus 

Epiphanes,  143. 
Philip,  son  of  Herod,  244. 
Philip  of  Macedon,  78. 
Philip,  the  Tetrarch,  242,  244. 
Philo,  94,  179,  284,  285. 
Pilate,  Pontius,  procurator,  259,  264- 

274;  reports,  letters,  and  "  Acts" 

of,  269,  270,  274. 
Plutarch,  quoted,  14. 
Pompey,  200-205,  207,  219. 
Poppaea,  wife  of  Nero,  304. 
Precepts  of  Noah,  99,  222. 
Psalms,  40,  41. 
Ptolemies,  religious  freedom  of  Jews 

under,  94. 

Ptolemy  Dorimenes,  135. 
Ptolemy  Euergetes,  89,  105,  106,  107. 
Ptolemy  Lagus  (Soter)  87,  88,  89. 
Ptolemy  Lathyrus,  174. 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  89,  96. 
Ptolemy  Philopater,  107,  108. 
Ptolemy,  son  of  Haboub,  170,  171. 

Q- 

Quirinius  (Cyrenius),  his   enrolments 

of  Syria,  256,  257. 
"  Quo  Vadis,"  286,  319. 

R. 

Raphall,  Rabbi  Morris,  quoted,  resto- 
ration of  worship  in  Temple,  139  ; 
on  offers  of  Demetrius  to  the  Jew- 
ish people,  1 60;  on  siege  of  Jerusa- 
lem, 345,  346. 

Reges,2n,  234,  235. 

Renan,  Ernest,  "  History  of  the  People 
of  Israel,"  Vols.  IV.  and  V.  quoted, 


INDEX. 


381 


on  "  Songs  of  Degrees,"  41;  on 
Macedonians,  81 ;  on  writings  of 
Alexandrine  Jews,  95  ;  on  Septua- 
gint,  95 ;  on  son  of  Sirach,  105 ; 
on  Greece,  109, 151  ;  on  Judas  Mac- 
cabaeus,  133,  151;  on  the  Asmonean 
dynasty,  1 55;  on  the  Essenes,  177- 
179;  on  the  Jewish  sibyl,  187;  on 
First  Book  of  Maccabaeus,  193,  194  ; 
on  Roman  power  in  Syria,  200  ;  on 
Caesar's  friendliness  to  Jews,  210, 
21 1;  on  spread  of  Jewish  religion, 
218,  219;  on  Herod,  223  ;  on  Mari- 
amne,  225 ;  quoted,  from  "  Anti- 
christ,1' on  Petronius,  287 ;  on 
martyrdom  of  St.  James  the  Less, 
303 ;  on  Nero,  319  ;  on  war  between 
Otho  and  Vitellius,  333;  on  siege 
of  Jerusalem,  341,  342  ;  on  the  tri- 
umph of  Titus,  364,  365. 

Roll  of  the  congregation,  62,  69. 

Rome,  increase  of  power  in  the  East, 
109,  no  ;  favors  the  Jews,  149; 
supports  Alexander  Balas,  158; 
destruction  of  the  Capitol,  371 ; 
plunder  by  Genseric  the  Vandal, 
372. 

Ruth,  52. 


S. 

Sabbath,  72,  74,  93,  128,  203,  315. 

Sabbatical  Year,  72. 

Sabinus,  Roman  general  247,  248. 

Saddncees,  176,  177,  225,  301. 

Saint  Paul,  98,  219,  222,  299. 

Salamis,  battle  of,  175. 

Salathiel,  23. 

Salome,  224,  225,  229,  230. 

Salome,  daughter  of  Herodias,  wife  of 
Philip  of  Chalcis,  244,  260-261. 

Sagan,  substitute  for  high-priest,  298. 

Samaritans,  jealousy  of  Jews,  63. 

Sanballat,  governor  of  Samaria,  59, 
64,  65-67. 

Sayce,  Professor,  quoted,  on  Ara- 
maic and  Chaldean  tongues,  70;  on 
Artaxerxes,  75. 

Scythia.  invasion  by  Darius  Hystaspes, 
47,  -8- 

Sejanus,  259,  265,  271.. 


Seleucus  IV.,  no,  in. 

Seleucus,  Philometer,  son  of  Antio- 
chus  the  Great,  87,  116,  117  ;  mur- 
dered, 119. 

Sepphoris,  city  of,  322,  324. 

Septuagint,  95-97. 

Seraiah,  53. 

Seron,  Syrian  general,  134. 

Shammai,  251. 

Shealtiel,  23. 

Shechaniah,  59,  60. 

Shemaiah,  and  Abatalion,  212,  224, 
250. 

Shethar-bognai,  38,  39. 

Shushan,  64. 

Sibylline  Books,  183-187. 

Sicarii,  Jewish  bravoes,  257,  301,  302, 

3r3,  336,  338,  339- 
Simon  ben  Shetach,  190,  195, 
Simon,  son  of  Boethus,  225,  236,  239. 
Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  340,  357,  358, 

363- 

Simon  the  Benjamite,  116,  117. 

Simon  the  Just,  high-priest,  101-104. 

Solomon,  Psalms  of,  218. 

"  Songs  of  Degrees,"  41. 

Son  of  Sirach,  on  Simon  the  Just, 
103,  104. 

Stanley,  Dean,  quoted,  on  meeting  of 
Alexander  and  Jaddua,  83,  84;  on 
Heliodorus,  in  ;  on  Sadducees,  112; 
on  Judas  Maccabaeus,  134,  136;  on 
Herod,  212,  213. 

Stapfer.  Dr.  Edmond,  quoted,  on  Gali- 
lee, 23^  ;  on  Jericho,  339. 

Strabo,  quoted,  on  Jewish  feeling  for 
the  Temple,  205  ;  on  the  Jewish  race, 
219. 

Suetonius,  299. 

T. 

Tacitus,  quoted,  273. 

Targums,  origin  of,  197. 

Tarichaea,  323,  324. 

Tatnai,  Persian  governor,  37,  38,  39, 

4i,  63. 

Taxing,  257,  258. 
Tei'spes,  ancestor  of  Cyrus  and  Darius, 

13-  35- 
Tekoa,  28. 
Temple,  rebuilding  of,  32,  33,  37-39; 


382 


INDEX. 


finished,  40;  desecrated  by  Anti- 
ochus  Epiphanes,  126;  cleansed  by 
Judas  Maccabaeus,  138  ;  seized  by 
Pompey,  203,  204;  Herod's  Temple, 
235,236,237;  destroyed  by  Titus, 
357)  358  >  subsequent  fate  of,  360, 
361 ;  spoils  exhibited  in  the  triumph 
of  Titus,  369,  370  ;  ultimate  fate  of 
those  spoils,  371,  372. 

Terentius  Rufus,  363. 

Tiberias,  city  of,  255,  322,323,  329. 

Tiberius,  Alexander,  279, 284, 297, 367. 

Tiberius,  Emperor,  259,  260,  269,  270, 
279-282. 

Tiberius,  grandson  of  the  Emperor, 
279,  282. 

Tigranes,  197. 

Timotheus,  Ammonite  general,  141, 142. 

Tirshatha,  Persian  title,  31. 

Titus,  Arch  of,  371. 

Titus,  Roman  general,  afterwards  Em- 
peror, 320,  330,  333  ;  besieges  Jeru- 
salem, 343-362  ;  triumph,  364-366. 

Tobijah,  the  Ammonite,  61,  65,  66,  73. 

Torah,  or  the  Law,  52,  71,  77. 

Tryphon,  162,  163,  165,  166,  167,  169. 

Tyre  besieged  by  Alexander,  82. 

Tyropean  ravine,  between  the  Temple 
Mount  and  Mount  Zion,  308,  309. 


U. 

Ulysses,  compared  to  Josephus,  324. 
Urim  and  Thummin,  25,  69. 


V. 

VdmbeYy,   A.,    Hungarian     traveller, 

qttoted,  85. 
Varus,  Legate  of  Syria,  247,  248. 


Ventidius,  216,  217. 

Vespasian,  Emperor,  siege  of  Joto- 
pata,  325,  326  ;  prediction  of  Jose- 
phus, 328;  siege  of  Gamala,  329, 
33  J>  333 !  proclaimed  emperor, 
334  ;  campaign  in  Palestine,  338, 
339 ;  shares  his  son's  triumph,  36. 

Virgil,  187,  234. 

Vitellius,  Emperor,  332. 

Vitellius,  Legate  of  Syria,  268,  270, 
271,  294. 


W. 

Wall  of  Wailing,  prayer  for  United 

States,  1898,  258,  359. 
Will  of  Herod,  244. 


X. 

Xenophon,  quoted,  13,  78. 
Xerxes  (Ahasuerus),  49,  50. 
Xerxes,  death  of,  63. 


Zadok,  a  Zealot,  258. 

Zadok,  high-priest  under  Solomon,  23 ; 

family  of,  159. 
Zadok,  house  of,  41. 
Zadok,  leader  of  the  Sadducees,  103, 

112. 

Zealots,  257,  258,  268,  297,  313,  334, 

338,  340,  366- 

Zechariah,  prophet,  37,  38,  43. 
Zerubbabel,  prince  of  Judah,  21,  22, 

25,  28,  31,  32,  33,  36-40,  42,  62. 
Zoroaster,  20,  79,  86. 


By  Mrs.  ELIZABETH  W.  LATIMER 

Spain  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Handsomely  illustrated.  8vo. 
$2.50. 

With  regret  one  notes  that  Elizabeth  Wormeley  Latimer's  "  Spain  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century "  is  to  be  the  last  of  her  excellent  series  of  Nineteenth  Century 
Histories.  We  have  come  to  look  upon  Mrs.'Latimer  as  quite  the  most  delightful 
purveyor  of  historical  gossip  to  be  found  anywhere.  In  successive  volumes  she  has 
sketched  the  external  events  of  the  century  in  France,  Russia,  England,  Africa, 
Italy,  and  Spain  ;  and  this  final  volume  is  perhaps  the  most  timely  and  the  most 
needed  of  all.  —  The  Chicago  Tribune. 

Italy  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Handsomely  illustrated  with 
twenty-four  full-page  half-tone  portraits.  8vo.  436  pages.  $2.50. 

"  Italy  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  "  is  as  fascinating  as  a  romantic  novel.  Indeed 
every  chapter  is  a  romance  from  history  made  almost  in  our  own  day.  —  The  Press, 
Philadelphia. 

Europe  in  Africa  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Handsomely 
illustrated  with  twenty-three  full-page  half-tone  portraits.  8vo. 
456  pages.  $2.50. 

Elizabeth  Wormeley  Latimer  has  made  a  valuable  condensation  of  the  history  of 
European  exploration  and  conquest.  She  calls  her  book  a  volume  of  "short  yarns," 
but  this  modest  characterization  does  not  do  justice  to  the  skilful  summing  up  of 
achievement  in  the  Dark  Continent.  —  The  A  dvance. 

England  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Handsomely  illustrated 
with  twenty-five  full-page  half-tone  portraits.  8vo.  452  pages. 

$2.50. 

What  a  lot  she  knows!  And  how  brightly  she  tells  it  all  !  We  seem  to  be  reading 
contemporaneous  confidential  letters  to  an  intimate  friend,  written  "  not  for  publica- 
tion" by  any  means,  —  the  style  is  too  good  for  that,  —  but  simply  because  the  writer 
is  interested,  and  never  imagines  the  reader  to  be  otherwise.  —  The  Mail  and 
Express,  New  York. 

Russia  and  Turkey  in  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Handsomely 
illustrated  with  twenty-three  full-page  half-tone  portraits.  8vo. 
413  pages.  $2.50. 

There  is  not  a  yawn  in  its  four  hundred  pages.  The  author  deals  with  the  endless 
strife  between  the  Ottoman  and  the  Russian  in  the  mood  of  a  painter;  and  her  word- 
painting  is  always  bright  and  often  brilliant  and  powerful.  —  Chicago  Evening  Post. 

France  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  1830-1890.  Handsomely 
illustrated  with  twenty-two  full-page  half-tone  portraits.  8vo. 
450  pages.  $2.50. 

Mrs.  Latimer  has  written  an  extremely  interesting  book,  which  will  be  read  with 
eagerness.  —  The  Daily  A  dvertiser,  Boston. 

My  Scrap  Book  of  the  French  Revolution.  Handsomely 
illustrated.  8vo.  $2.50. 

Mrs.  Latimer  has  brought  together  an  unusually  good  collection  of  facts,  descrip- 
tive passages,  extracts  from  rare  letters  and  manuscripts,  clippings  from  higher-grade 
magazines,  anecdotes  that  are  never  snatched  unfeelingly  from  their  appropriate  set- 
tings, and  translations  not  only  of  noteworthy  French  articles,  but  of  verses  by  such ' 
poets  as  Victor  Hugo  and  Francois  Coppee.  —  The  Living  Age,  Boston. 

Judea,  from  Cyrus  to  Titus,    537  B.C. -70  A.D.      Hand- 


Mrs.  Latimer  has  made  one  innovation  that  will  give  to  this  record  of  far-off  days 
added  reality  ;  that  is,  she  has  from  time  to  time  reminded  us  of  similar  events  that 
have  recently  occurred.  She  has  not  written  in  behalf  of  one  or  the  other  of  the 
schools  of  biblical  critics  ;  but  simply,  directly,  and  eloquently  for  those  who  delight 
in  history. 

Sold  by  booksellers  generally,  or  will  be  sent,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of 
the  price,  by  the  publishers, 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO.,  CHICAGO. 


44  A  wonderfully  useful  book  for  busy  people." 

NATIONAL   EPICS 

BY  KATE  MILNER  RABB. 

I2mo,  398  pages,  $1.50. 


Mrs.  Rabb's  treatment  of  each  epic  consists  of  (i)  A  descriptive  sketch  of  the 
poem;  12)  An  outline  of  the  historical  narrative  embraced  in  it;  (3)  Selections,  each  of 
which  narrates  a  complete  incident;  (4)  A  short  bibliography  of  each  poem;  (5)  A  list 
of  standard  English  translations  of  the  foreign  epics.  The  last  two  of  these  items 
make  the  book  valuable  as  a  work  of  reference.  The  author  has  performed  her  heavy 
task  with  such  diligence  and  literary  ability  as  will  certainly  win  much  credit  to  herself, 
and  be  the  means  of  edifying  and  entertaining  many  a  grateful  reader. 

This  is  an  excellent  guide  to  a  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  world's  great 
epic  poems.  The  Hindu,  Greek,  Roman,  Finnish,  Saxon,  German,  French,  Spanish, 
Italian,  Portuguese,  English,  and  Persian  epics  of  distinctively  national  importance 
are  all  represented.  .  .  .  The  compiler  has  performed  a  useful  service  in  making  accessi- 
ble in  the  compass  of  a  single  volume  so  much  material  for  the  study  of  these  noble 
poems.  —  The  Review  of  Reviews,  New  York. 

The  book  is  distinguished  by  unusual  merit.  The  volume  may  be  heartily  com- 
mended as  a  scholarly  and  satisfactory  piece  of  work,  admirably  arranged,  and  pre- 
senting some  features  which  set  it  apart  from  similar  condensations.  —  Public  Ledger, 
Philadelphia. 

Kate  Milner  Rabb  has  done  a  good  turn  for  busy  people  and  for  those  whose 
literary  inclinations  are  not  strong  enough  to  sustain  a  desire  to  read  the  epics  which 
are  the  basis  of  literature.  —  The  Evening  Wisconsin. 

Mrs.  Rabb  succeeds  admirably  in  summarizing  the  stories  of  the  epics.  She  has 
endeavored  to  retain  the  characteristic  epithets  of  the  originals  as  much  as  possible, 
and  to  reflect  in  her  diction  their  essential  spirit.  It  is  sufficient  proof  of  her  success 
that  her  brief  prose  paraphrases  remind  one  at  times  of  the  so-called  "  Poems  of 
Ossian."  —  Neva  York  Commercial  Advertiser. 

The  idea  is  an  admirable  one,  and  is  well  carried  out.  These  short  stories  cannot 
fail  to  awaken  a  curiosity  which  will  only  be  satisfied  with  a  larger  study  of  the  great 
epics  of  the  world.  —  The  Advance. 

A  wonderfully  useful  book  for  busy  people.  —  St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press. 
The  wonder  is  that  it  was  not  done  long  ago.  —  Chicago  Tribune. 


For  sale  by  booksellers  generally,  or  will  be  sent,  post- 
paid,  on  receipt  of  the  price,  by  the  publishers, 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO.,  CHICAGO. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

305  De  Neve  Drive  -  Parking  Lot  17  •  Box  951388 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


